A cure for cancer with our own bodies? What you need to know about immunotherapy

When we hear the word “cancer,” fear and anxiety come to our minds. That’s normal. However, with the advancement of medical science, cancer treatment methods have improved a lot. Today, I’m going to talk to you about a wonderful treatment method that has changed the game in the fight against cancer and brought new hope to many people. This is called Immunotherapy. Simply put, instead of giving external drugs to fight cancer , we use our own defenses to fight it. Let’s see how this works.

So, what is Immunotherapy?

To understand this, let's take a small example. If you have an allergy , like to dust mites, you may have gotten allergy shots. The shots contain a very small amount of the allergen. When it enters your body, your immune system starts working against it, but without making you sick. As you gradually increase the dose, your body gets used to the allergen. That means your body builds up an immunity to it.

Immunotherapy is something like that. Cancer is when one of our own cells starts behaving “badly” out of control. The hope of immunotherapy treatment is to help our body’s natural defense system recognize these “bad cells” and train itself to destroy them. Just like fighting a virus or bacteria that enters our body.

What are the main types of immunotherapy?

Researchers have discovered several ways that our immune system can recognize and destroy cancer cells. Let's take a look at some of the main types.

1. Adoptive T-Cell Immunotherapy (Specially trained T-cell therapy)

This is like training special forces. One of the main soldiers in our immune system is called T-cells .

In this treatment, doctors take some of these T-cells from your tumor. Then, in the lab, they look for which of these T-cells are the ones that fight the cancer the most. They select the “best soldiers,” genetically engineer them, make them even stronger, and grow them into the millions.

Finally, this “super-powered T-cell army” is put back into your body through an IV. Now these cells go straight to seek out and destroy cancer cells.

One of the most popular treatments under this category is CAR T-cell therapy . It is used for pediatric and adult leukemia patients and several types of cancer, such as lymphoma, that have not responded to other treatments.

2. Checkpoint Inhibitors

Our immune system also has a system of “brakes.” These are called checkpoints. These brakes are there to stop our immune system from unnecessarily attacking our own healthy cells.

But cunning cancer cells take advantage of this brake system. They make proteins on their surface that activate these checkpoints, sending a signal to the defense system, saying, "I'm one of yours, don't attack me." It's like a thief putting on a police uniform.

Checkpoint inhibitor drugs work by releasing this "brake" that holds cancer cells in place. This allows our T-cells to recognize cancer as an enemy and attack it.

This treatment method is now successfully used for many types of cancer, including lung, breast, kidney, and skin cancer (melanoma).

3. Monoclonal Antibodies

These are antibodies, specially designed in a lab. They're like "missiles" that can seek out and capture cancer cells.

Our immune system can't always identify cancer cells as "bad." Monoclonal antibodies help it do that. These antibodies stick to the surface of cancer cells. Then, it's like a flag is flying over that cell, making it easy for the immune system to see it. It's like saying, "Here's the enemy." Then the T-cells can easily destroy those cancer cells.

Some monoclonal antibodies have anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapy ) or radioactive substances attached to them. This antibody then carries the drug directly to the cancer cell and delivers it.

4. Cancer Vaccines

These are just like regular vaccines. There are two main types:

• Preventive vaccines: These are vaccines that protect against viruses that can cause cancer. The best example is the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine. This HPV virus can cause cervical cancer as well as several other types of cancer. Getting the HPV vaccine can greatly reduce that risk. It is very important to talk to your doctor about this and find out more.
• Treatment vaccines: These are designed to train the immune system to attack a cancer that is already in the body.

What is the future of immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is still a rapidly developing field, as scientists are constantly trying to better understand how our immune system fights cancer.

Additionally, research is being conducted to see if immunotherapy can be given in combination with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, to improve outcomes. Sometimes, two types of immunotherapy are given together.

But there is still a big question that remains unanswered. That is, why this treatment, like other treatments, works so well for some patients while not so well for others. Research is still ongoing to find the reasons for this.

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