Do you remember the first time when you had an allergy due to a particular food item? Did you know that every five minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency room? Millions of people are affected by food allergies, and most of them have potentially life-threatening symptoms.
To reduce these threats, clinical laboratories have come up with ground-breaking tests that can detect hidden allergies and offer personalized dietary consultations effectively for those who seek improved health and well-being.
In our venture towards seeking such trusted laboratories, we came across Cells Science Systems Corp., a clinical laboratory that develops and performs lab testing in immunology and cell biology, supporting the personalized treatment and prevention of chronic diseases.
In the following interview, Roger Deutsch, Founder and CEO of Cells Science Systems, shares his insights about the current landscape of the industry and the company’s journey.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about your organization, its values, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the Clinical Laboratories services space.
Cell Science Systems (CSS) is a CLIA and State licensed clinical lab, an FDA registered medical device manufacturer. Our flagship technology is the ALCAT Test® which is used to detect foods, chemicals, medicinal, and other substances that cause adverse reactions through a non-IgE pathway.
So, these are delayed-type reactions that can induce chronic inflammation via an innate immune system pathway and all the sequelae that follow. It works very well with GI disorders, migraines, skin rashes, metabolic issues (particularly weight gain and body composition) a range of autoimmune disorders, like arthritis, fatigue, and others.
We also offer an innovative, functional cellular test, based on how specialized cells of the peripheral immune system (lymphocytes) respond to specific micronutrients and botanical, based on enhancing the proliferative response when stimulated with a mitogen.
This gives a very personalized view of how that individual’s critical immune response can be benefited by nutritional supplementation and, through a variation of that procedure, understand which antioxidants protect that person’s cells. These tests, taken together, are quite useful for personalizing a diet and nutrition and not just blindly taking supplements and eating according to the latest fads.
We are all about prevention and helping people find the root cause of illness. We also own an entire company that provides lifestyle counseling based on the findings of our innovative and some proprietary diagnostics. It is called PreviMedica, and through that platform can offer a package to companies and organizations to improve the health of their team members.
Tell us more about your organization’s services that make you stand out from the competition?
Our flagship technology – the ALCAT Test, is the gold standard for food and chemical sensitivity testing. It is the only technology in this category to have been validated by top-tier institutions like Yale, Leipzig Georgetown U., and others.
We have been and continue to be involved in research collaborations as our testing is unique, disruptive, and beneficial; because it is extremely accurate and precise and exerts a powerful effect on complicated health issues that are both costly and, in some cases, devastating.
We offer other diagnostics in the preventive space. Our CICA (Celiac, IBS, Crohn’s Array) contains the key molecular and serologic markers for assessing the risk of GI disorders. We also test for key SNPs in the methylation cycle with a smart report that guides vitamin support for enzyme deficiencies, as well as measurement of Telomer length, which is becoming more interesting to the assessment of disease risk.
Roger, how did your journey in the healthcare industry begin?
I got into this field because I had severe seasonal hay fever symptoms and related allergic conditions that were refractory to conventional treatment. I realized that I was kind of on my own to figure out how to live with my situation.
What is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has your company fared during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns?
The current pandemic has exposed several weaknesses in our health care systems. The way I see it is that those who suffer the most from the infection are those who have underlying conditions.
Our business has picked up during the pandemic because people who have deferred taking care of their health, who have allowed themselves to pack on the extra weight, and so forth, now know that that can make the difference between life and death. As word has gotten out there that we have some very powerful tools to strengthen and balance, the keyword here is “balance” the immune system; we have seen an increased interest in what we do.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the clinical laboratories services sector post the pandemic?
The most important finding, as far as I am concerned, is the discovery that viral-induced innate immune responses can lead to the development of what are called ‘NETs’, which stands for Neutrophil Extracellular Traps. NETs are a normal innate immune response that is useful in trapping and killing pathogens.
However, if the body’s enzyme degradation systems are inadequate to meet the demand of extensive NETs or NETosis, the NET contents can be very toxic to host tissue and have been found in the critical organs of people who suffer the worst cases. This is a nascent area of medical research that was highlighted by the CV-19 pandemic. NETs have been shown to drive cancer metastases, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, cystic fibrosis, asthma, pneumonia, cardiovascular disease, and COVID fatality.
There are many triggers, SARS CoV-19 being one of them. However, what the latest research from Yale and Georgetown, and Leipzig have shown is that foods can trigger NETs and that the ALCAT Test can tell which foods are relevant for each person.
Further, when the innate immune cells are primed by constant exposure to offending foods and other environmental factors, the immune response is stronger but not necessarily balanced, which can lead to depletion of immune resources and abnormal reactivity, all of which is avoidable if one knows what to eat and what not to eat, according to their own unique biochemistry.
