What Is Integrative Oncology & How Can It Help?

If you or someone you love has recently been diagnosed with cancer, you may be hearing some terms you aren’t familiar with being used, especially in conversations around treatment pathways. Whether you’re just beginning your cancer journey or you’re further through your treatment, you may have heard of integrated oncology. 

If you’ve been wondering what exactly integrative oncology is and if it can help you, you’ve come to the right place. This is our complete guide to integrative oncology London so that you can make an informed decision on whether it’s right to include it in your unique treatment plan. 

What Is Integrative Oncology? 

In short, integrative oncology is the use of complementary therapies alongside traditional cancer treatments. Generally speaking, integrative oncology focuses on improving the immunity and quality of life of cancer patients by reducing the side effects of traditional medicine. It’s important to note that integrative oncology works alongside traditional treatments like chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiation. It’s not an alternative treatment, and it’s important that you chat to your oncologist before beginning any complementary therapies alongside your cancer treatments. 

Integrative oncology focuses on reducing side effects like pain, nausea and compromised immune systems to improve overall quality of life whilst undergoing cancer treatments.

Why Is Integrative Oncology Important? 

Integrative oncology is important because it provides additional support for patients' wellbeing during their cancer journey. Working alongside traditional approaches, it provides an additional layer of support that aims to address physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. 

Cancer treatment can be exhausting, and it can come with a lot of uncomfortable side effects. Integrative oncology works to help reduce these side effects so that individuals with cancer can experience the best quality of life possible. 

Are There Different Kinds Of Integrated Oncology? 

There is a range of different kinds of integrated oncology therapies that you can try until you find something that works best for you. These are some typical types of therapies you might see in the integrative oncology space: 

Emotional Therapies: 

This includes things like support groups, therapy and stress management to help deal with the difficult emotions that can arise after a cancer diagnosis. 

Complementary Therapies: 

This includes therapies that support your physical wellbeing or your immune system. That could be things like integrated IV therapies, acupuncture, yoga, and more to help support your wellbeing and recovery. 

Nutritional Advice: 

It can be hard during cancer treatments to get the nutrients you need to best support your wellbeing. This is where nutritional advice comes in, this could be helpful with meal plans and dietary advice to make sure you’re getting adequate nutrition even when faced with treatment side effects like nausea. 

How Can Integrated Oncology Help You?

Integrated oncology can help you throughout your cancer journey in a myriad of different ways. Cancer treatments can be incredibly draining and taxing on the mind and the body, and integrative therapies help you to recover while undergoing traditional treatments. These kinds of complementary therapies can help to reduce stress, reduce side effects associated with chemotherapy or radiation and boost your immunity. They can also help you improve your energy levels and your physical fitness, which is critical when fighting cancer. 

There is a range of different benefits of complementary therapies, including things like: 

• Improved fitness
• Boosted energy 
• Enhanced quality of life 
• Increased appetite
• Reduction of side effects or symptoms, including things like nausea and vomiting 

Is It Safe?

Complementary therapies and integrated oncology are generally considered safe during cancer treatments. However, it is important to note that you must talk about any therapies you’re considering with your cancer care team. This is especially true if you’re considering beginning new vitamins or undergoing IV therapy.  

For the best results, you should always speak to your oncologist and your cancer care team before beginning any new therapies while undergoing traditional treatments. You also need to ensure you are only going to trusted practitioners who are experienced in the integrated oncology space to ensure you are getting the best possible care. 

If you’re interested in integrative therapies, the very first thing you need to do is talk to your cancer care team. Your team is there to support you throughout your cancer journey and can often advise you on which integrative treatments are going to be best for you and your goals. It’s also important to remember that integrative oncology works in tandem with traditional medicine. It’s not a replacement for chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation, and it is designed to work alongside these traditional treatments.  

Improve Your Quality Of Life With Integrative Oncology 

Integrative oncology is designed to support you no matter what stage of the cancer journey you’re in. Whether you’ve just got your diagnosis or you’re much further down the track, these therapies are designed to help you improve your quality of life and reach your treatment goals. 

Reduce side effects, effectively manage stress, boost your immune system and enhance your quality of life when you explore integrative therapies during cancer. 

This is a guest blog entry.

Stepwise Phases of Oncolytic Virus Development

Oncolytic virotherapy uses replication‑competent viruses that preferentially infect and lyse cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. By engineering viral tropism, immune‑evasion genes, or payload cassettes, researchers can turn naturally occurring viruses into potent anti‑tumor agents. Yet moving from a clever genome edit to a regulated product demands robust viral vector manufacturing —covering upstream production, scalable purification, and rigorous analytics. Because that manufacturing complexity has outpaced most in‑house capabilities, developers increasingly partner with a specialist oncolytic virus development partner whose viral vector manufacturing platforms are already validated for current GMP.

Oncolytic virotherapy uses replication‑competent viruses that preferentially infect and lyse cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. By engineering viral tropism, immune‑evasion genes, or payload cassettes, researchers can turn naturally occurring viruses into potent anti‑tumor agents. Yet moving from a clever genome edit to a regulated product demands robust viral vector manufacturing —covering upstream production, scalable purification, and rigorous analytics. Because that manufacturing complexity has outpaced most in‑house capabilities, developers increasingly partner with a specialist oncolytic virus development partner whose viral vector manufacturing platforms are already validated for current GMP. 

Selecting the viral platform

Different tumor settings call for different vectors. Double‑stranded DNA viruses such as adenovirus and HSV offer large genomic “cargo bays,” ideal for inserting cytokines, bispecific T‑cell engagers, or matrix‑degrading enzymes. Single‑stranded RNA viruses—reovirus, Sindbis, coxsackie—replicate quickly and can slip past pre‑existing immunity, but their smaller genomes limit transgene size. Platform choice dictates every downstream step of viral vector manufacturing, from producer cell line to release analytics, so early alignment between discovery and process teams saves months later.

Engineering for potency and selectivity 

Oncolytic viruses achieve tumor selectivity through natural tropism or engineered mutations. Deleting genes required only in healthy cells creates replication blocks outside the tumor, while tumor‑specific promoters tighten expression further. Next‑gen constructs add payloads such as GM‑CSF or IL‑12 to boost local immunity. Each insert must remain stable during serial passage, making genetic‑stability testing a non‑negotiable element of the overall viral vector manufacturing control strategy. 

Upstream production 

Once a lead construct is locked, upstream scale‑up begins. Adherent HSV and adenovirus processes still run in stacked‑tray systems, but suspension HEK293 or PER.C6 cells in single‑use bioreactors increasingly dominate as they simplify volumetric expansion. For RNA viruses, Vero or BHK cells are common hosts. Critical parameters—MOI, cell density at infection, dissolved‑oxygen control—are screened at bench scale, then locked as part of the master batch record. Speed is everything, so many sponsors lean on CDMOs with modular, disposable facilities that compress viral vector manufacturing tech‑transfer timelines. 

Purification and formulation 

Virus‑laden harvests undergo clarification, concentration, and polishing to remove host‑cell DNA, proteins, and empty capsids. Tangential‑flow filtration combined with ion‑exchange or affinity chromatography is standard for DNA viruses; ultracentrifugation or multimodal resins handle most RNA viruses. Formulation scientists then balance infectivity and stability. Cryoprotectants such as trehalose and albumin preserve potency through frozen storage, while surfactants prevent aggregation at the high titres required for intratumoral dosing—each choice locked down in the viral vector manufacturing control strategy. 

Analytics and release 

Compared with protein biologics, viral therapies demand broader analytics. Plaque or TCID50 assays measure potency; qPCR verifies genome integrity; EM or cryo‑TEM confirms particle morphology. Safety testing covers sterility, mycoplasma, adventitious agents, and replication‑competent virus tailored to each backbone. Establishing these assays early—ideally in parallel with process development—keeps viral vector manufacturing and quality‑control timelines aligned, preventing costly re‑validation later. 

Combination strategies and future directions 

Oncolytic viruses do more than lyse tumors directly. They inflame “cold” microenvironments, making them more responsive to checkpoint inhibitors and CAR‑T cells. Developers are experimenting with cloaking technologies—platelet or NK‑cell carriers—and systemic delivery routes to reach inaccessible lesions. Recent publications in Nature Cancer Gene Therapy highlight a wave of clinical studies testing oncolytic viruses in combination with PD‑1/PD‑L1 blockade, and early multi‑arm trials suggest that robust, flexible viral‑vector manufacturing will be essential as these strategies mature. 

Closing thoughts

Turning a wild‑type virus into a clinically viable oncolytic product is a multidisciplinary effort that blends molecular virology, cell‑culture engineering, and regulated bioprocessing. Under tightening regulatory scrutiny, dependable viral vector manufacturing—often delivered by experienced CDMOs—has become the decisive factor in who reaches the clinic first. Teams that lock in capable manufacturing partners early can iterate faster, scale with confidence, and bring the promise of targeted oncolysis to patients sooner.

This is a guest blog entry.

Navigating Cancer with Complementary Care

In the wake of a cancer diagnosis, chances are good your mind is racing with all the kinds of treatments and medications you’re going to have to implement into your daily life. 

From chemotherapy and radiation to complementary care, there are so many different types of treatments on offer for individuals with all kinds of cancers. 

Being diagnosed with cancer can feel incredibly daunting, but with this guide, you’ll be able to see your options for complementary care all laid out in one place. You’ll be able to assess the benefits of different kinds of complementary therapies so that you can make a choice that’s going to be best for your lifestyle and your goals. 

This is our comprehensive guide on navigating cancer with complementary care so that you can make an informed and educated decision about your health and well-being. 

First, Is Complementary Care And Alternative Medicine The Same? 

We get asked often if complementary therapies are the same as alternative medicine, and we’re here to tell you that they’re not the same thing at all. 

Complementary therapies are used alongside more conventional treatments for cancer prescribed by your oncologist. This could mean implementing complementary therapies alongside chemotherapy or immunotherapy to help boost your immune system and manage side effects from more traditional cancer treatments. 

Complementary therapies aim to improve your everyday quality of life and minimise the symptoms you may be feeling from the cancer or from treatments like chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy. 

Whilst complementary therapies are used in conjunction with conventional medicines, alternative therapies are used as a replacement for conventional medicine. This is an important distinction if you’re considering adding complementary care to your cancer treatments. 

What Kinds Of Complementary Cancer Care Is There? 

When it comes to the kinds of complementary cancer care out there, there are a number of different therapies to choose from depending on exactly what you want to achieve. 

These are some of the most common kinds of care that may be recommended to you alongside your traditional cancer treatments: 

1. Yoga

Yoga helps to relieve stress and can work to minimise physical side effects of cancer and chemotherapy by improving your flexibility, strength, and fitness and helping you to relax. 

2. Art Therapy 

Art therapy is a mindfulness technique that works to use creativity and expression to help people living with cancer explore their emotions, deal with stress and, most importantly, navigate the challenges of being diagnosed with cancer. 

3. Massage 

Massage can also help you to relax and help with any pain or tension you might be dealing with as a result of the cancer or the traditional treatments you’re choosing. Massage helps to relieve tension, reduce pain and help aid in overall relaxation, making it a popular complementary therapy with people living with cancer. 

4. Reflexology 

Like massage, reflexology works by applying pressure to specific pressure points on the hands, feet and ears to help accelerate the body’s natural healing process as you undergo cancer treatment. 

5. Reiki 

Reiki is another complementary therapy that can help you to feel deeply relaxed. During a reiki session, the therapist will use gentle touch on or above your body to promote a sense of calm that can be incredibly beneficial during your cancer journey.

6. Aromatherapy 

Aromatherapy uses a blend of essential oils to help you cope with specific ailments or side effects like stress, nausea, fatigue, anxiety, and so much more. Aromatherapy can be used alone or alongside gentle massage to help minimise symptoms and promote a feeling of calm. 

7. IV Therapies 

Intravenous (IV) therapies are also commonly used alongside traditional cancer treatments to help boost your immune system and help you manage side effects.  Infusion therapy for cancer patients can be tailor-made to suit your unique needs and your goals so that you can ensure you’re getting a bespoke treatment from an expert team. It’s critical that if you’re opting for IV therapies, you choose a reputable and trusted clinic and chat with your oncologist to ensure it’s safe for you before beginning. 

Are Complementary Cancer Therapies Safe? 

Whilst many complementary cancer therapies are completely safe to use alongside traditional cancer treatments, it’s critical that you check with your oncologist before beginning any therapies outside of your agreed-upon cancer care plan. 

Before you begin any complementary therapies alongside cancer treatment, it’s critical that you understand the side effects of the complementary medicine and that you tell your doctors before you begin any therapies at all. While most doctors will support you using one or even multiple complementary therapies, it’s still vital that you inform your team of any changes to your care plan as soon as possible. 

Find The Complementary Care That Works Best For You 

Similarly to traditional therapies, there’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all guide to complementary cancer care, so it’s critical that you find a solution that works best for you. 

Just because a friend, family member or someone on the internet has had great success with a therapy doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for you. It’s important to try complementary therapies until you find one that best aligns with both your needs and your goals. Traditional medicine, complementary therapies and great support groups can make your cancer journey far more manageable. 

This is a guest blog entry.