New Tumor-Preservation Service Opens in Arizona, Giving Patients the Opportunity to Preserve Unadulterated Tumor Tissue for Potential Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As personalized cancer immunotherapy continues to attract growing interest, Immunocine is introducing Immunocine Preserve, a specialized tumor-tissue collection and preservation program designed to address one of the most important practical challenges in personalized dendritic cell therapy: obtaining viable tumor tissue.
For patients considering personalized immunotherapy, the tumor itself can be an essential part of the treatment process. Immunocine’s Dendritic Cell Treatment (IDCT) uses patient-specific tumor information to create a personalized immune-targeting approach. The company’s proprietary Double -Loaded technology is designed to educate dendritic cells using tumor-derived information through complementary immune pathways.
The challenge is that conventional surgical and pathology workflows are designed primarily for diagnosis—not for preserving tumor material for future personalized cell therapy. Tissue may be fixed, processed or otherwise handled in ways that make it unsuitable for subsequent therapeutic processing.
Immunocine Preserve was created to provide patients and their surgical teams with another option.
The program provides a dedicated kit that can be supplied to a surgeon or interventional radiologist before a procedure. When appropriate and medically feasible, tumor tissue can be collected using the kit, returned to Immunocine Preserve, processed and placed into secure long-term storage for potential future use. Immunocine Preserve currently provides up to two years of storage as part of the program.
“The tumor is the blueprint. If we want to build a truly personalized immune response, we need to preserve the information that makes that response personal,” said Dr. Matt Halpert, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Immunocine. “Too often, patients undergo surgery and discover later that the tissue they would have needed for our personalized therapy has already been altered or is no longer available. Immunocine Preserve is about protecting that option before it disappears.”
Dr. Matt Halpert, Ph.D., CEO & Founder of Immunocine
Preserving the Patient’s Tumor Means Preserving an Option
Immunocine’s approach centers on dendritic cells—immune cells that play a critical role in presenting information to the immune system. The company’s IDCT protocol uses the patient’s own tumor material in its proprietary Double Loading process.
Dr. Halpert, one of the scientists involved with the discovery and study of double-loaded dendritic cell technology, said, “Personalized cancer therapy starts with the tissue. The closer we can stay to the patient’s unadulterated tumor biology, the more faithfully we can preserve the information that may ultimately be used to educate that patient’s immune system. Immunocine Preserve was created to make that possible before conventional cancer treatment changes the equation.”
“One of the most important steps in preparing the dendritic cell vaccine at Immunocine is obtaining a sample of the tumor,” said Dr. Stephen Noga, MD, Ph.D., Immunocine Chief Medical Officer. “Of course, we can acquire this in Cancun or Cabo San Lucas. However, many patients have surgery prior to this and very little tumor remains.” Noga added, “With the creation of Immunocine Preserve, we have developed a simple kit that your surgeon can use at the time of surgery to house the tumor sample and safely transport it to our facility for processing. This material is then properly processed and cryopreserved and remains usable until you come to Immunocine for treatment.”
A Simple Intervention at a Critical Moment
The program’s current tumor-tissue guidelines call for a sample of at least approximately the size of a pencil eraser, with more active tumor tissue preferred.
The preserved material can then remain available for potential future preparation of an Immunocine personalized dendritic cell treatment. Preservation itself does not guarantee that a patient will ultimately qualify for Immunocine treatment or that treatment will produce a particular outcome; eligibility is determined through a subsequent medical evaluation.
“In cancer care, preserving possibilities can be just as important as making decisions,” said Vita Salsman, Executive Director. “Immunocine Preserve gives patients a way to protect something uniquely theirs—the biological information contained in their own tumor—before that opportunity is lost.”
For Immunocine, the launch of Immunocine Preserve represents an extension of its broader mission to make highly personalized immunotherapy more accessible to patients who may need additional options.
“We don’t know what the future of an individual patient’s cancer journey will look like,” Halpert said.
“But we can make sure that a potentially valuable piece of that future isn’t discarded today.”
Immunocine’s Double Loading approach is supported by a body of peer-reviewed research https://immunocine.com/research/
Learn More At:
https://immunocinepreserve.com/
Media Contact: Amy McFarlane
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH, IMMUNOCINE
EMAIL: [email protected]
Direct Phone: (346)-214-9142
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d715ebc2-2030-470c-88ae-8605756ac8a4
