Cancer is a huge problem that numerous scientists have tried to come up with a solution to fix it over a period of many years. Some scientists and researches have come up with treatments to control cancer, or get rid of it for a period of time, but nobody has ever found a cure that will rid cancer forever. Immunotherapy is a new treatment that gives hope of finding this cure that will make cancer less of a threat to our society.

What is Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is one of the best treatments for cancer.  It is also one of the latest advancements in cancer treatment. Cancer cells are actually good cells that multiply too fast for your immune system to recognize them as dangerous cells and fight them off.  In the beginning stages of cancer your immune system perceives the cancer cells as a threat and fights off some. Despite this  beginning effort, the cancer cells multiply quickly, to the point where the immune system can no longer regulate the amount being made. Eventually the system that acts as an army and fights diseases, becomes over powered and tumors begin to form.  Immunotherapy is a treatment that is used to boost the immune system, helping it fight against the cells that infected it. It helps the body recognize the cancer cells as a threat, and helps support the immune system to kill the dangerous cells to extinction. There is not only one type of immunotherapy. There are many different types of immunotherapy for many different types of cancer.

How does it differ from other cancer treatments?

Cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy release harmful chemicals that do in fact kill cancerous cells, but along with the cancerous cell they also kill good healthy cells. This differs from immunotherapy where the power of the patient’s own immune system is used to destroy cancerous cells, and keep the good, healthy ones. Also treatments like drugs and radiation have many side effects to them, where as immunotherapy has little or no side effects. Immunotherapy, also is known to have a longer lasting protection against cancer cells than chemo or radiation.

What are the types of Immunotherapy?

Along with the different cancers come different types of treatments. For example, Leukemia can be treated by Adopted Cell Therapy, which is a type of immunotherapy. This is when doctors remove immune cells from a patient. They then genetically modify or grow them in a lab and eventually return them to the patient’s body. Another is Dendritic cell vaccines. This treatment has the highest success rate so far in cancer treatment. Dendritic cells are a specific type of immune cell that recognizes cancerous cells and breaks them down into smaller pieces(antigens included). They hold out the antigens  until T cells (another type of immune cell) can see them, and start to fight against them. These are only two examples of immunotherapy.  

There are tons of different types of treatment for cancer that all fit under the category of immunotherapy. Not every treatment works for every cancer, in fact, some cancers have not yet been given an immunotherapy cure.  This new treatment is still in the process of developing and will be for many years. It does, however, give hope of a permanent cure for cancer.

Question 1: What big advancements have been made in the past few years?

Question 2: What is the success rate overall?

Question 3: What clinical trials are taken to approve immunotherapy treatment?