No proof for alleged health benefits of DC-CIK

Cancer treatments are associated more often with diminishing beauty than its enhancement. Hair loss and raw, peeling skin immediately spring to mind as common side effects of radio- and chemotherapy. But lately, another regimen has come under the spotlight - DC-CIK injections - being used to achieve more youthful looks. Beauty salons have offered the procedure claiming it would give clients whiter, younger-looking skin with finer pores, while strengthening their immune system. But four women, who each reportedly paid about HK$50,000 for the treatment at DR Beauty chain, wound up in hospital suffering from septic shock. One eventually died from the onset, induced by a bacterial infection.

So what is DC-CIK? Short for dendritic cells and cytokine-induced killer cells, it is a form of immunotherapy that has been in existence for about 10 years, although it has never been used in Hong Kong as a cancer therapy, says Dr Raymond Liang Hin-suen, president of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. While some clinical trials show that it has some effect in prolonging survival, particularly in patients with kidney cancer and melanoma, DC-CIK remains an experimental treatment, even for fighting cancer, he says.

"There's no evidence that this type of treatment works for other purposes such as improving your health, skin condition or preventing cancers," says Liang, who is also director of the Comprehensive Oncology Centre at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. Indeed, several experts in immunotherapy and cosmetic surgery were unaware of the DC-CIK cocktail, or its application in aesthetic regimens.

Dendritic cells and killer cells are types of immune cells. Dendritic cells are present in most tissues of the body, particularly stationed at "outposts" such as the skin. Dendritic cells act like sentries of the immune system and deliver key information about invading pathogens, which in turn helps activate killer cells - a type of white blood cell - to fend off the infectious agents. In DC-CIK immunotherapy, blood extracted from the body is cultured with a mix of proteins called cytokines, which stimulate the production of killer and dendritic cells.