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Immunotherapy

About Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy stands as a pivotal form of cancer treatment, leveraging the body's immune system to combat cancerous cells. The immune system serves as the body's defense mechanism against infections and various illnesses, comprising white blood cells along with lymphatic system organs and tissues. This innovative approach to treatment falls under the umbrella of biological therapy, which harnesses substances derived from living organisms to address cancer.


How does the immune system fight cancer?

Your body's defense system, called the immune system, fights off sickness. But sometimes, cancer can sneak past it and keep growing. Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer in different ways. Some treatments help the immune system slow down or stop cancer growth, while others help it destroy cancer cells or prevent them from spreading to other parts of the body. Immunotherapy can be used on its own or along with other cancer treatments.

Types of immunotherapy?   

Doctors use different kinds of immunotherapy to help treat cancer

  •  Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: These drugs help the body's defense system (immune system) fight cancer better by stopping certain 'brakes' that normally keep the immune response from becoming too strong.
  • T-cell Transfer Therapy: This treatment boosts the body's natural ability to fight cancer by taking immune cells from the tumor, selecting the most active ones, making them better at attacking cancer, growing them in large amounts, and then putting them back into the body.
  • Monoclonal Antibodies: These are lab-made proteins that stick to specific targets on cancer cells. Some help the immune system see and destroy cancer cells better.
  • Treatment Vaccines: These vaccines help the immune system fight cancer by making it better at recognizing and attacking cancer cells. They're different from the vaccines that prevent diseases.
  • Immune System Modulators: These substances help make the body's immune response against cancer stronger. Some affect specific parts of the immune system, while others boost the immune system in general.

Benefits of Immunotherapy  

  • If surgery and chemotherapy don't work for cancer, immunotherapy might help. For example, some cancers like skin cancer don't respond to radiation or chemotherapy, but they might respond well to immunotherapy.
  • When other treatments aren't working well for cancer, immunotherapy could make them work better.
  • Immunotherapy usually has few side effects because it focuses on the immune system, not cancer cells.

Immunotherapy can cause some side effects, such as:

  • Headache
  • Skin problems
  • Feeling like you can't breathe well
  • Upset stomach leading to diarrhea
  • Gaining weight
  • Coughing and having a stuffy nose
  • Feeling feverish and weak