Immunotherapy

Introduction

Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses your body’s immune system to find and destroy cancer cells. Your immune system identifies and destroys intruders, including cancerous cells. Immunotherapy boosts your immune system so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells. Immunotherapy for cancer is a very effective treatment that may help some people with cancer live longer. Medical researchers are developing new immunotherapy drugs to treat more types of cancer.

Your immune system’s everyday job is to protect your body from intruders, from allergens and viruses to damaged cells that could become cancerous. It has special cells that constantly patrol your body for intruders. When they find a damaged or cancerous cell, they destroy it. That keeps cancerous tumors from growing and spreading. But cancer is a moving target. Cancerous cells constantly look for ways to dodge immune system defenses.

What cancers does immunotherapy treat?

Healthcare providers consider immunotherapy a first-line or initial treatment for many types of metastatic cancer, or cancer that’s spread. They may combine immunotherapy with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or other cancer treatments. Providers use different types of immunotherapy to treat many kinds of cancer. Each immunotherapy type uses different elements of your immune system.

Types of immunotherapy

Immunotherapy types include checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell therapy (T-cell transfer therapy), monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines and immune system modulators.

1. Checkpoint inhibitors: Your immune system is a powerful defense system—sometimes too powerful. Your body has checkpoints to keep your immune system from overreacting to intruders and damaging healthy cells.

2. Adoptive cell therapy (T-cell transfer therapy): This treatment improves your immune system’s ability to destroy cancerous cells. Healthcare providers take your immune cells and grow them in a laboratory. Once your cells have grown, providers insert the cells back into your body so they can kill cancerous cells. CAR T-cell therapy and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy are the two main types of T-cell transfer therapy.

3. Monoclonal antibody therapy: Antibodies are part of the first line of defense when your immune system detects intrudes. Antibodies are proteins that fight infection by marking intruders so your immune system will destroy them. Monoclonal antibody therapy for cancer involves lab-made antibodies that can support your existing antibodies or become their attack force.

4. Cancer vaccines: Vaccines protect your body against certain diseases. Some vaccines, such as the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), protect against an infectious disease that’s linked to anal cancer, throat cancer, and penile cancers. These vaccines prevent you from getting an infection that can later lead to cancer. Cancer vaccines don’t prevent cancer. But if you develop cancer, cancer vaccines train your body to fight it.

5. Immune system modulators: Immunomodulators are substances that boost your body’s response to cancer. Immune system modulators include cytokines, BCG, and immunomodulatory drugs.

Procedure

People receive immunotherapy by intravenous (IV) injection. Immunotherapy might be administered daily, weekly, monthly, or in cycles. Cyclic immunotherapy requires a rest interval following treatment. The break allows your body to generate healthy cells. The length of treatment is determined by the type and stage of cancer, the immunotherapy medicine used, and your body's response to treatment.

Benefits

Immunotherapy may be an effective treatment for cancers that haven’t responded to traditional treatment or that have come back after traditional treatment.

Risks

Immunotherapy is not effective for all types of cancer, and it may not work for everyone who receives treatment. Most immunotherapy treatments cause side effects. If your healthcare provider recommends immunotherapy, they will explain the specific treatment side effects and how they will help you manage them.

Conclusion

Immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of numerous diseases by harnessing the immune system's power to combat cancer, infections, autoimmune disorders, allergies, and other conditions. Its targeted nature enables precision action against sick cells while sparing healthy tissue, resulting in fewer adverse effects than conventional medicines.