Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Immuno-Augmentation Therapy

Definition

Immuno-augmentation therapy (IAT), also called immuno-augmentative or immuno-augmentive therapy, is a cancer treatment aimed at restoring the immune system with injections of a mixture of blood factors.

Origins

The theory behind IAT was formulated in the 1950s by Dr. Lawrence Burton. After earning his doctorate in experimental zoology in 1955 from New York University, Burton moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of H. K. Mitchell. There, he and his coworkers discovered a tumor-inducing factor (TIF) in fruit flies. A few years later, Burton and his colleague, Dr. Frank Friedman, joined the cancer research staff of Dr. Antonio Rottino at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. Rottino was one of the first scientists to conclude that there was a connection between...