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Immunotherapy is a breakthrough cancer therapy that influences the body's immunity to recognize and control the growth of cancerous cells in the body. Since these therapies target specific markers present on the surface of cancer cells, they have fewer chances of damaging healthy cells. Immunotherapy strategies include immune checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cell therapy, cancer vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies.
Immunotherapy is often referred to as the fourth pillar of cancer treatment, with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy being the first three.
Immunotherapy for cancer involves improving the body's immune response against tumor cells or preventing cancer cells from evading the immune system. In various cancers, such as lung cancer, melanoma, and lymphoma, immunotherapy is administered to improve survival rates and outcomes.
Some of the types of immunotherapy are:
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy approach. Specific proteins in cancer cells prevent the immune system from attacking them. These drugs work by inhibiting these proteins. Inhibitors like PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 block these checkpoints.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors facilitate the killing of cancer cells through the immune system. They are effective for cancers like melanoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors induce a patient's defenses to fight cancer.
T-cell transfer therapy is also an immunotherapy approach wherein T-cells assist a patient's body in fighting cancer more effectively. During this treatment, T-cells are derived from the patient and engineered to make them stronger and more effective in identifying and attacking cancer cells.
These cells are administered back to the patient. T-cell transfer therapy is known to show promising results in blood cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia.
There are two types of T-cell transfer therapy, and they are Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy (CAR T-cell Therapy) and Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes therapy (TIL therapy)
Monoclonal antibodies have high specificity for specific antigens present in cancer cells. Once bound to the target antigens, monoclonal antibodies can either directly kill cancer cells or become a signal for the immune system.
Some monoclonal antibodies induce an immune response against the tumor. Other monoclonal antibodies help deliver therapeutic drugs, such as chemotherapy or radiation, to cancer cells while sparing normal tissues. They have been used to treat cancers such as lymphoma, breast, and colorectal carcinoma.
Cancer vaccines are immunotherapeutic agents that provide a specific immune response to identify and kill cancer cells. In contrast to traditional vaccines, which prevent disease-causing infections, cancer vaccines aim to cure existing cancers or prevent their recurrence.
These vaccines have antigens from cancer cells; the immune system recognizes and kills cells displaying such antigens. Cancer vaccines are also used as immunotherapy for prostate cancer in patients not responding to hormonal therapy. One of the vaccines has also been approved by the USFDA for treating advanced melanoma skin cancer.
Immune system modulators are treatments that enhance or inhibit the immune system's activity in its defense mechanisms against diseases, including cancer. They can increase the immune response when weak or even balance it to avoid overactivity with inflammation or autoimmunity.
In cancer therapy, immune system modulators, such as cytokines, which include interleukins and interferons, enhance the immune system's ability to detect and kill cancer cells.
Immunotherapy is a cancer therapy that enhances the immune system's ability to attack cancer cells through drugs or vaccines to allow immune cells to detect and destroy cancer cells. The escaped cancer cells typically hide themselves or depress the immune system responses.
Immunotherapy bypasses such methods by enhancing the immune system's capability so that the body can better recognize the cancer cells or eliminate barriers that stop immune cells from attacking the tumors.
Immunotherapy treatment can be administered through various approaches, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors that halt the proteins cancer cells use to hide, T-cell transfer therapies where genes of T-cells are engineered to make them attack and destroy cancer cells, and monoclonal antibodies binding to cancer cells and then marking them for cell death.
Others include targeted therapy with minimal damage to normal cells. Immunotherapy has long-term effects in preventing cancer recurrence.
Some of the benefits of immunotherapy are:
Among the various benefits of immunotherapy is long-term protection from cancer. Immunotherapy allows the immune system to detect cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy or radiation therapy, which attacks only the existing disease cells, immunotherapy strengthens natural defenses that can detect and destroy cancer cells. For instance, immunotherapy for colon cancer may reduce the risk of recurrence of cancer.
Another advantage of immunotherapy is that it causes fewer side effects than conventional treatments, like chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, which destroy cancerous cells and other healthy cells, immunotherapy targets the immune system, minimizing chances of the usual side effects like nausea, hair loss, and weakness.
Although immunotherapy side effects are immune-related, such as inflammation, they are generally more acceptable and less concerning. It also improves the overall quality of life.
Immunotherapy treatment also assists in treating advanced cancers that do not respond to conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Immunotherapy boosts the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells, whether the cancer is localized or disseminated and resistant to any conventional treatment. Immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-cell therapy are effective in treating various melanomas, lung carcinomas, and lymphomas diagnosed in advanced stages.
Some of the cancer types that immunotherapy can treat are:
Immunotherapy has begun appearing as a promising approach for treating non-small cell lung cancer. These therapies significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival rates.
Also, immunotherapy showed higher efficacy in combination with chemotherapy. For instance, immunotherapy is very useful for the treatment of advanced or metastatic lung carcinoma patients. Treating lung cancer with immunotherapy improves survival and enhances quality of life.
Immunotherapy is a novel, promising therapy for liver cancer, mostly hepatocellular carcinoma. Several drugs target the proteins PD-1 and PD-L1 to increase the immune response against a liver tumor.
The outcomes include better survival for patients diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. Immunotherapy can be added to other treatments, such as targeted therapies or local ablative techniques, to maximize its effectiveness.
Immunotherapy is emerging as an alternative therapy in breast cancer, particularly in the aggressive subtypes, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy for TNBC has been shown to improve survival rates. Other promising approaches include therapeutic vaccines and antibody-drug conjugates targeting specific antigens on breast cancer cells.
Immunotherapy treatment is also effective in other types of cancer, including melanoma. Also, significant progress has been made in renal cell carcinoma's outcome treatment with immunotherapy.
In addition, treatments are being developed for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, gastrointestinal cancers, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Immunotherapy treatment for colorectal cancer is also effective.
Typical treatment often begins with an assessment session to decide the type of immunotherapy to administer. Patients may receive immunotherapy through infusions or injections.
A session may take several minutes or hours, and frequency can range from every week to every month.
Some side effects may occur during the immunotherapy procedure, but they are usually not as severe as those produced by chemotherapy. Some common side effects of the treatment are fatigue, skin reactions, and flu-like symptoms. The patient should not ignore any new side effects and should see their doctor.
Routine scans and blood tests are performed to determine the treatment efficacy and whether modifications are required. Reduced tumor size is one of the signs immunotherapy is working.
The medical oncology department at HCG is fully equipped to facilitate all major systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and more.
We employ modern immunotherapy techniques to stimulate the body's immune system to fight cancer. With personalized therapies, from immune checkpoint inhibitors to CAR T-cell therapy, the department provides personalized care for all types of cancer, significantly improving patient outcomes and survival rates.
As a leading hospital for cancer treatment in India, HCG is one of the most advanced centers for delivering immunotherapy to manage various types of cancer. The center has highly skilled oncologists who develop individualized care plans.
With its excellent success rates, HCG assures excellent quality care for different types of cancer.
