Many deadly diseases have made our lives difficult and fearful in the medical field. One among them is cancer, in 2020 it was seen that nearly one in every six died due to cancer worldwide. Cancer is the uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells in the human body, there is no such place it can grow anywhere in the body. These cells in the body are called tumors, they can be either cancerous or non-cancerous. The tumors that are found to be cancerous will spread to nearby tissues and can even go to different places in the body.
There are different types of cancers around more than 100 which are named by the organ the cancer forms some of them are bladder cancer, lung cancer, heart cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, brain cancer, cervical cancer, eye cancer, ovary cancer, lymphoma, sarcoma, carcinoma, leukemia, melanoma and many more. The cancer can be treated in many ways surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, cryoablation, targeted drug therapy, bone marrow transplantation, etc. In this article, we are going to discuss one such cancer treatment process named immunotherapy, including the types, side effects, effectiveness, and more.
Read more Healthcare articles on The Healthcare Insights
What is immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is also known as the biological therapy that harnesses the immune system of the body and helps to target and destroy cancer cells. Through this immune system, our body will fight against diseases and other infections. The uniqueness of this treatment process is it makes utilization of the substances that are made from living organisms.
Is it different from chemotherapy? Yes, in the case of chemotherapy, it directly attacks the cancer cells through which the chemical will kill the cancer cell that is growing faster in our body, whereas in immunotherapy it will boot our body’s immune system for defence hence making it more powerful and effective to eliminate cancer from our body.
How does immunotherapy work?
When there is the formation and growth of abnormal cells in any part of our body the immune cells that are present around the tumor cells will detect them and destroy them, in some cases it will also stop the growth of cancer. The cells that are found around the tumor cells are called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TLS), those who have the presence of TLS in their tumor will perform better than the absent ones.
Immunotherapy will operate in different mechanisms, which include checkpoint inhibitors, therapeutic vaccines, and adaptive cell transfer. In the first one, checkpoint inhibitors will realize the breaks in the immune system which will then boot in recognizing the presence of cancer cells and then attacking them. Adaptive cell transfer is involved in enhancing or empowering the immune cells of the patient from outside the body and will again introduce them to target and attract the cancer cells. Therapeutic vaccines help stimulate our immune system to identify or recognize and then respond to specific or targeted cancer antigens.
One of the most appreciated advantages of immunotherapy is the reduced side effects on the body when compared to chemotherapy. In this treatment mechanism the initial steps involve the identification of cancer cells and then targeting them will only affect the abnormal cells and will not cause any harm to healthy body cells. In the case of immunotherapy, patients will enjoy the long-term benefits where the immune system of our body will continue to combat the arrival of new cancer cells even after the completion of the treatment process.
Side-effects of Immunotherapy
As immunotherapy will boost our immune system, sometimes it will lead to adverse effects that are related to the immune system. These will include gastrointestinal issues, skin reactions, etc. Patients who are undergoing the treatment of immunotherapy will have to face symptoms like fatigue and flu. This can be also an indication that our body is responding to the cancer cells.
Conclusion
To conclude, immunotherapy can be considered an important treatment in combating deadly diseases like cancer. Its method of targeting the cancer cells, reducing the side effects, and long-term benefits has made it promising when compared to chemotherapy. It is also essential to understand the uniqueness of the patient’s journey and choose wisely the type of treatment to be given.