What Is Immunotherapy? Types, Benefits and Possible Side Effects

For decades, the standard cancer treatments we have been seeing have felt like a blunt instrument. Methods like chemotherapy and radiation work by attacking cancer cells, but in the process, they also end up taking down healthy tissues along with the abnormal cells. Now, the world of medicine has brought a revolutionary shift in the market: immunotherapy treatment.

Immunotherapy is a medical treatment which utilises your body’s own immune system to help identify and fend off diseases like cancer. Instead of simply attacking abnormal cells directly, immunotherapy enhances or restores the immune system’s natural ability to recognise and destroy the cells causing harm to the body. In this blog, readers will get a glimpse into what immunotherapy is, its types, benefits, and side effects, if any.

Table of Contents

• What Is Immunotherapy Treatment?
• How Does Immunotherapy Work?
• Types of Immunotherapy
• Benefits of Immunotherapy Treatment
• Possible Side Effects
• Conclusion
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Immunotherapy Treatment?

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment which uses the immune system to cure cancer. It works by allowing the immune system to find and attack the growing cancer cells. Immunotherapy can be used as treatment for multiple cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and even blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma.

What immunotherapy treatment does is enhance the response of your body’s in-built disease-fighting mechanism to cancer. Healthcare providers may aid the immune response by providing your body with additional tools like proteins and antibodies, as well as boosting the already existing immune cells to defeat cancer. Since the immune system is precise, it can target harmful cells while entirely skipping healthy cells.

Using the immune system against cancer has its own perks, including its ability to adapt constantly. In case a tumour escapes detection, the immune system can quickly re-evaluate and relaunch an attack, keeping up with the dynamic nature of the abnormal cells. Also, the immune system’s memory helps it remember cancer cells, in case the disease ever returns.

How Does Immunotherapy Work?

We know that the immune system works by scanning and destroying abnormal cells, preventing the growth of infections and diseases and, in some cases, cancers. Once the immune system detects something that is “foreign”, an alarm is raised, and the attack begins. This is what your immune response basically is.

Unfortunately, cancer cells can be tricky, as they can mimic healthy cells, which makes it difficult for the immune system to recognise them as harmful. What cancer immunotherapy does is elevate the immune system’s ability to detect these abnormal cells. It also uses lab-made substances like monoclonal antibodies to mimic the body’s natural proteins. The treatment also reprograms normal immune cells to destroy cancer cells. Vaccines are used that trigger an immune response that targets these cells.

As of now, there are still some limitations to this ground-breaking development. For starters, as mentioned above, cancer cells may seem too similar to normal cells, making detection more difficult. The immune system may not be able to release a response strong enough to destroy cancer effectively. Lastly, cancer cells can produce signals that essentially help them “hide” from the immune system.

Types of Immunotherapy

There are some major types of cancer immunotherapy treatments, including the following:

• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors:
  Immune checkpoints are a safety mechanism that makes sure an immune response doesn’t get too strong and destroy the body’s healthy cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that block proteins such as PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 that help cancer cells to dial down immune responses. When you block these checkpoints, it allows T-cells to better attack the cancer cells.
• T-cell Transfer Therapy:
  This type of immunotherapy boosts the natural capability of T-cells to fight cancer. Immune cells are removed from the tumour, and the most active against cancer are boosted in the lab to fight cancer cells. Then these cells are expanded on a large scale and put back in the body.
• Vaccines:
  Unlike traditional vaccines, cancer treatment vaccines strengthen the body’s natural response against cancer. These vaccines contain tumour-associated antigens and help the immune system to recognise and react to the antigens and destroy the cancer cells containing them.
• Monoclonal Antibodies:
  These are laboratory-made proteins that bind to targets on cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies can “mark” the cancer cells so that the immune system can find and destroy them more easily.
• Immune System Modulators:
  Immune system modulators like cytokines, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and immunomodulatory drugs boost the immune response of the body to cancer.
• Oncolytic Virus Therapy:
  Naturally occurring or genetically modified viruses infect and replicate in the tumour cells and kill them specifically, leaving healthy tissues untouched and unharmed.

Benefits of Immunotherapy Treatment

Cancer immunotherapy has quite a few benefits over traditional cancer treatments. These are:

• Targeted Action:
  Immunotherapy works by seeking out cancer cells and destroying them directly. In this way, healthy tissues are left unharmed, unlike in chemotherapy.
• Durable responses:
  Some patients have durable remission after stopping therapy. This is because the immune system remembers the cancer cells.
• Effective for advanced disease:
  Immunotherapy has shown efficacy in advanced disease, where options are limited, and has improved survival for those with metastatic cancers.
• Combination potential:
  Immunotherapy can be used in combination with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy for better and more desired results.
• Broad application:
  Immunotherapy can be applied to the treatment of multiple cancers, and new methods are constantly being approved.

Possible Side Effects

Just like every other cancer treatment, immunotherapy also has its drawbacks. In some cases, the immune system can target and attack healthy tissue instead of destroying cancer cells. This is known as an immune-related adverse effect. This can result in inflammation in healthy cells. Other common side effects include:

• Fatigue
• Diarrhoea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Itching or rashes
• Decrease in thyroid hormone levels

Conclusion

Immunotherapy has become one of the most significant advances in recent times when it comes to cancer treatment. It has effectively offered patients a way to use their body’s built-in defence mechanism against the disease. With multiple types of treatments and lower side effects as compared to chemotherapy and radiation, immunotherapy has expanded the possibilities for every patient. Of course, there are some drawbacks to the treatment method just as there are benefits. Anyone who is considering cancer immunotherapy should sit down with their doctor and have a detailed discussion about their diagnosis, treatment goals, and risks before moving forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Is immunotherapy the same as chemotherapy?

No. Chemotherapy kills fast-dividing cells. It may also attack some healthy tissues. On the other hand, cancer immunotherapy is a treatment that boosts the immune system so that it attacks the cancer cells specifically and leaves healthy tissue alone.

Q2. How long will it take for immunotherapy to work?

The response times differ by patient and type of cancer. Some patients see results in weeks; others may take several months to see measurable improvement.

Q3. Is immunotherapy a sure cure for cancer?

Immunotherapy has shown long-term remission in many cases, but the results are mixed, and no promises can be made.

Q4. Will I have side effects from immunotherapy forever?

Most side effects can be treated with appropriate treatment. Some immune-related side effects may continue, such as changes in thyroid or hormones.

Q5. Is immunotherapy safe during pregnancy?

In general, immunotherapy is avoided in pregnancy. These treatments can have potential risks to a developing foetus because they work by strongly activating the immune system.