[Becky]

The reasons oncs use Neupogen or Neulasta has to do with the primary objective of why they are using the drug and that objective is to increase low neutrophil counts. Neutrophils are the white blood cell component that is the first defense the body has towards new infections - they are the soldiers in the field. It doesn't matter if your lymphocytes are low (they fight chronic infection). So for oncs - they want the neutrophils back.

Leukine boosts all components of the white blood cell components - neutrophils, monocytes (of which Lymphocytes are part of) and most importantly, the dendrites. Dendrites are the component that finds the really bad stuff like a new infection or cancer. They rush to the lymph nodes and the lymph nodes begin to manufacture B cells (which have infection memory in the long run). In turn, those B cells create the killer T cells that destory the infection (in the long run). So with a cold, the neutrophils rush there and start fighting. If the cold goes on too long, eventually the cold will be killed by the T cells that were specifically manufactured by the body to kill that virus. Those memory cells are around so that the killer T cells can be manufactured more quickly if you should ever encounter that virus again. This is the basis of immunization. Although you many catch 100s of colds in your life, they are all different from one another as you can never catch the same cold twice (or the measles twice etc). The dendritic effect can also work for cancer if a dendrite finds a cancer cell, the immune system does the correct response - theoretically, you are self immunizing. This is why all the Her2 vaccine trials use Leukine with the vaccine. To boost that whole effect. Have more dendrites to enhance the vaccine's effect. If you have more questions, please ask.