Immunotherapy: How does it Help in Treating Cancer?

• Written by Farina Khan

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What if your body could fight cancer the same way it tackles viral, cold, or any other infection? What if a boost to your immune system could help you recognise and destroy cancer cells hiding within? Indeed, you heard that right! Immunotherapy is one such treatment that helps treat cancer unlike conventional treatments.

Have you ever heard of this term? Or Confused between radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy? Well, no need to worry anymore. In this blog, we will take you through the immunotherapy treatment, types of immunotherapy, cost medications and all related things. Without further ado, let’s begin!

Immunotherapy: An Overview

Immunotherapy, also referred to as immuno-oncology is a biological therapy that harnesses the power of the immune system. Immunotherapy treatment helps the immune system to identify, target and destroy cells. It is one of the most effective cancer treatments that is helpful for cancer patients to live a little longer. Immunotherapy treatment is less invasive and less toxic than other treatments. 

Types of Immunotherapy

 Although researchers are still exploring and researching some various other types of immunotherapy, here are some basic types of immunotherapy treatment:

Monoclonal Antibodies (Mabs)

Monoclonal antibodies, as name suggests, MAB therapy helps to clone the natural antibodies to fight and detect cancer. Monoclonal antibodies are man made versions of immune system proteins that are prepared in the laboratory. They are especially prepared to attack a very specific part of the cancer cell. 

Checkpoint Inhibitors

Immune checkpoint inhibitors is another type of immunotherapy that actually acts as a checkpoint. It regulates the immune system by preventing it from attacking the healthy cells. Some cancers exploit these checkpoints to evade detection. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are basically drugs that block these proteins to attack cancer cells. Two well known immune checkpoint inhibitors are PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4.

Vaccines

Unlike vaccines for infectious diseases, immunotherapy vaccines stimulate the immune system to attack existing cancer cells. Therapeutic cancer vaccines are generally given to healthy people to help prevent infections. These vaccines recognise proteins that are on particular cancer cells and help the immune system to recognise and attack them.

Cytokines

Cytokines is one of the most common types of immunotherapy. It is a group of proteins in the body that aims to boost the immune system. This type of immunotherapy basically uses small proteins called cytokines that carry messages between cells to attack cancer in the body. Myeloproliferative disorders such as polycythaemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) are some of the man-made proteins that are created in the laboratory.

CAR T-Cell Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is one of the advanced types of immunotherapy that involves genetically modifying the T cell of the cancer patient. These types of immune cells are introduced in the body of the cancer patients to recognise, target, and destroy the cancer cells. This type of immunotherapy has shown remarkable success in treating certain blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma. Car T-Cell Therapy is highly specialised and individual immunotherapy that requires special facilities for the treatment.

Oncolytic viruses

This emerging immunotherapy treatment uses genetically modified viruses to kill cancer cells specifically. This treatment uses the virus that had been prepared and modified in the laboratory to destroy certain tumour cells.

How does Immunotherapy Treatment Work?

To understand immunotherapy treatment, it is really important to know the functioning of the immune system. The main function of the immune system is to protect the body from intruders, allergens, and viruses to damage cells that could become cancerous.

The special cells in the immune system find and destroy the damaged cells. Immunotherapy eases the process and functioning of the immune system by training it to destroy more cancerous cells. It also helps the immune system to produce cancer-fighting cells that can effectively recognise, target, and destroy the cancer cells.

Benefits of Immunotherapy

Like every other therapy, immunotherapy also comes with several benefits. Here are some common benefits of immunotherapy treatment.

• It educated the immune system about cancer cells.
• It helps the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells.
• It boosts the immune system to help it eliminate cancer cells.
• It provides an additional component to fight cancer cells.
• It improves the long term survival rate.
• It can prevent many types of cancer from spreading.

What are the Side Effects of Immunotherapy?

Despite multiple benefits, we shouldn’t avoid the side effects of immunotherapy.  The immunotherapy treatment actually modifies the immune system of the cancer patient for an effective treatment process. Various side effects of immunotherapy may include:

• Fatigue
• Itchy rash
• Diarrhoea
• Nausea and vomiting
• Decreased thyroid hormone levels

But worry not, timely diagnosis, proper treatment, and specialised care will help you overcome these side effects of immunotherapy easily.

>>Read More: What is Stomach Cancer Awareness Month?

Final Thoughts: The Future of Immunotherapy!!

Immunotherapy is a paradigm shift against the fight for cancer. With researchers and experts still working on the types of immunotherapy treatment, science is also looking at various ways to combine immunotherapy with other treatments. Ongoing research aims to expand the availability and effectiveness of immunotherapy treatment. As research advances, this innovative immunotherapy may hold the key to a future where cancer is not just treatable but potentially curable

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