Procedure 3 · Direct delivery, standalone

Intratumoral Immunotherapy

When ablation isn’t the right tool, the immunotherapy still goes straight into the tumor.

The second half of AblationVax delivered on its own — for tumors too small, too diffuse, or already ablated elsewhere.

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What this is, in plain terms

Personalized

Minimally invasive

Immune-activating

Outpatient

~14×

Higher drug concentration at day 7 in mice colorectal models, using an anti-mouse CTLA-4 antibody (Meyblum, JITC 2023)

Classes of intratumoral immunotherapy in the toolkit

CD40

Dr. Williams’ default costimulatory agent

Outpatient

Same-day recovery

In plain terms

What this procedure is, without the jargon.

Sometimes ablation isn’t the right tool — the tumor may be too small, too spread out, hard to reach safely, or already ablated elsewhere. In those cases we deliver the intratumoral immunotherapy on its own: immune-activating drugs injected straight into the tumor rather than through an IV, reaching far higher local concentration.

It is essentially the second half of AblationVax delivered standalone, using the same multi-agent cocktail — checkpoint inhibitors (release the brakes), costimulatory agonists like CD40 (step on the gas), and TLR agonists like CpG (turn the ignition) — tuned to your tumor. Where ablation is excluded, adding microdosed chemotherapy into the tumor can supply the immunogenic cell death that releases tumor antigens.

It suits small or diffuse tumors, accessible lymph nodes in lymphoma, and skin melanoma lesions. Because the location, density and orientation of immune cells inside the tumor determine whether immunotherapy works, delivering the drug where the immune system learns is the point — not just the dose.

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Direct injection: the immune drugs go where the immune system learns — inside the tumor.

The treated tumor teaches your immune system to recognize the cancer body-wide.

How it works

How the cocktail is built.

Approach

Multi-agent, never single-agent

We combine drug classes that complement each other mechanically — brakes (checkpoint inhibitors), gas (costimulatory agonists), ignition (TLR agonists), and increasingly precision strike (microdosed chemotherapy) and natural therapies. The combination determines the response, never any single drug.

Selection

CD40 by default

Within the costimulatory class, CD40 is Dr. Williams’ stated preference — “the Swiss army knife of anti-cancer immune responses” — and appears in most cocktails where a costimulatory addition is indicated, particularly for pancreatic cancer. OX40 or 4-1BB are chosen when the tumor biology calls for a different pathway.

What makes it different

What makes this different from IV immunotherapy.

Standard approaches

Our approach

IV immunotherapy distributes through the whole body, with lower concentration at the tumor.

~14× higher drug concentration at day 7 in mice colorectal models using an anti-mouse CTLA-4 antibody (Meyblum, JITC 2023).

Whole-body drug exposure and its systemic side effects.

Drugs concentrated where the cancer is — lower systemic exposure, lower doses, reduced cost.

A drug that never reaches the tumor cannot work, whatever the dose.

Delivered where the immune system learns — spatial-omics confirms position and timing decide the response.

Why deliver into the tumor itself.

The right location, not just the right drug

These drugs can have powerful effects, but they need to be in the right place. If immune cells never reach the tumor, or are wrongly oriented within it, the therapy cannot work.

Turns cold tumors hot

Direct delivery amplifies immune recognition at the tumor site even when ablation is the wrong tool or has already been performed elsewhere.

Lower systemic burden

Concentrating the drug locally means smaller doses and fewer whole-body side effects than an equivalent IV course.

Is this right for you

When this procedure is right.

This procedure is considered for:

✓Tumors too small for safe ablation, particularly near critical structures

✓Diffuse disease with multiple small foci reachable by needle but not by an ablation margin

✓Patients who completed ablation at another center and are seeking immune amplification

✓Lymphoma — accessible nodes that don’t require ablation

✓Cutaneous melanoma lesions where T-VEC and multi-agent cocktails offer complementary mechanisms

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What this procedure doesn’t replace:

—Standalone delivery lacks the broad antigen release that ablation provides

—Where AblationVax is feasible, the combined ablation plus intratumoral approach is preferred

—This standalone procedure is for cases where ablation cannot be added

Each case is individually evaluated by Dr. Williams’ team.

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“It is my firm belief that the cure for cancer is within you… There is no better location for the immune system to learn to attack a cancer than within the tumor itself.”

— Dr. Jason R. Williams, The Immunity Solution, Ch. 4

Track record

Pioneering multi-agent intratumoral protocols.

2015

First-published intratumoral combination work

Cryoablation with intratumoral ipilimumab and nivolumab — the AblationVax concept (SITC 2015).

2018

Costimulatory agonists added

Intratumoral OX40, CD40 and 4-1BB combinations.

2019

OX40 / CpG protocols in print

Described in The Immunotherapy Revolution, Ch. 5, across multiple cancer types.

Now

Adaptive multi-agent cocktails

Tuned per patient to tumor biology, prior therapy lines and immune profile.

Ready to move forward?

There is more ahead. Take the next step with confidence.

Complimentary evaluation.

Dr. Williams’ team will personally review your case and imaging — no cost, no obligation.

Make an appointment
Call +1-310-759-7911

Or email info@williamscancerinstitute.com

Beverly Hills · San Jose del Cabo · Mexico City — most patients complete treatment in one week

Intratumoral Immunotherapy

What this procedure is, without the jargon.