SPECIAL SECTION : HEALTHY LIVING
Cancer Immunotherapy Using the immune system to treat cancer .
What is it ?
Cancer immunotherapy uses a person ’ s own immune system to fight the disease . This treatment has become an important part of treating certain types of cancers because of how it can benefit the patient . Immunotherapy can be used by itself or in conjunction with other types of treatments .
Types of Cancer Immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy can be broken down into two categories , those that boost the immune response and those that enable the immune response .
• Monoclonal antibodies ( mAbs ): These types of man-made immune system proteins can be made to attack very specific parts of a cancer cell .
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors : This drug can allow the immune system to go full force to recognize and attack cancer cells .
• Cancer vaccines : Just as the flu vaccine , cancer vaccines are put into the body to start an immune response against the disease .
• Other immunotherapies : Non-specific cancer immunotherapies are not made to specifically target cancer cells , but instead they are made to stimulate the immune system so that it will respond better to cancer cells .
Immunotherapy in Clinical Trials Clinical trials are research studies done to determine whether certain medications , treatments , or devices are safe and effective for humans . The studies follow strict scientific standards and require more testing than typical treatment .
Clinical trials are broken down into three phases :
• Phase I : This phase tests to show whether a certain drug is safe for human use . Phase I trials typically last several months to a year and are conducted on individuals who have tried other treatments without success . The patient base is small due to the uncertainty of the treatment .
• Phase II : This phase gives more insights on how well a particular treatment works . A larger sample of people is tested and the trial will last about two years . Dosages may vary between patients within the phase II clinical trial .
• Phase III : This phase is to test the new treatment , which has worked well in many people , against the standard of treatment for a particular disease . This phase is randomized , as the doctor does not choose which patients will receive the trial treatment and which will receive the standard treatment .
Effectiveness
The treatment of immunotherapy cannot be measured as quickly as chemotherapy and radiation therapy . Results of treatment may even get worse before they improve because of an inflammatory reaction from the body . Doctors call this a delayed response and it is common in immunotherapy treatment . There are times when a tumor can shrink or remain stable , but not disappear completely , which is called a partial response . Many of these responses are lasting for years , giving hope to patients who have exhausted other treatment options .
Cancer Immunotherapy Research
As cancer immunotherapy research continues to expand and uncover viable treatment options , research continues to develop new ways to treat cancer . Some of these include newer , more powerful monoclonal antibodies ( mAbs ), pairing immunotherapy with additional drugs to attack cancer cells , continued research into cancer vaccines , and other ways to boost the immune system . n
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