Immunotherapy For Cancer: What You Need To Know About It

Proper functioning of the immune system is one of the most important survival factors in many diseases, including cancer. This system can detect when changes that lead to cancer occur in cells and is able to destroy them. Do you know what immunotherapy is used to treat cancer?

Cancer is caused by changes in the behavior and structure of the cells in the tissue that make up a particular organ. When such changes occur, the body can find those cells and initiate a number of different defense processes.

Thanks to these processes, it can cause cancer cells to disappear. The real problems start when cancer cells manage to bypass the aforementioned defense systems. In this case, the cancer cells divide and spread recklessly.

Fortunately, in recent years, our understanding of cancer-permeable immunology has evolved dramatically. As a result, new therapies have emerged, such as immunotherapy.

We will tell you more about it below.

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a therapeutic form of treatment used to optimize the immune system so that the cells increase their ability to fight potential cancer cells. It works through two mechanisms:

• By stimulating or strengthening the immune system to be smarter as well as more aggressive in finding and attacking cancer cells.
• By making antibodies that are similar to the molecules used by our immune system. In this way, it helps to restore or improve its performance.

Forms of cancer immunotherapy

Next, it is important to understand that immunotherapy is a term used to refer to more than one form of treatment. Each of these therapies works by taking advantage of different features of the immune system.

Immunotherapy treatments include:

Cancer vaccines

First, vaccines are substances that are introduced into the body. Basically, they help the immune system to create a response against certain diseases.

We are used to thinking that healthy people are given vaccines to prevent infections. However, some vaccines can help prevent or treat cancer.

Oncolytic viruses

This is a new form of treatment that uses genetically modified viruses to infect and kill cancer cells.

Immune checkpoint blockers

Cancer contains genetic mutations that allow our bodies to recognize them as a foreign entity. This in turn helps the body to attack these cells. In some cases, cancer can block the response of the cells that defend us.

Immune checkpoint blockers prevent restructuring of the cancer cell response. This allows the body to react and destroy the cancer cells.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy

In this method, treatment comprises exposing a cancer patient’s T cells to a genetically modified virus. The purpose of this exposure is to teach T cells to detect and attack cancer cells.

Monoclonal antibodies

Essentially, monoclonal antibodies are synthetic proteins. They mimic the immune system. Taken together, these antibodies are designed to attack proteins on the surface of cancer cells. This immunotherapy helps the immune system to destroy the cancer cells.

Side effects of immunotherapy

Like all treatments for cancer, immunotherapy brings with it side effects. In the case of immunotherapy, these side effects occur largely due to stimulation of the immune system attack. In other words, the immune system attacks healthy cells and organs.

The most common side effects are:

• Pain
• Inflammation
• Sunburn
• Itch
• Rash
• Fever
• Chills
• Dizziness
• Weakness
• Fluctuations in blood pressure
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea

What to remember about cancer immunotherapy

In summary, immunotherapy is an innovative cancer treatment strategy that aims to harness the human body’s ability to detect and attack cancer cells. There are various treatments for immunotherapy. However, they all contribute to the functioning and healing of our body’s innate defense system.