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Immunotherapy Overview

Immunotherapy uses our immune system to fight cancer. It works by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. One might has immunotherapy on its own or with other cancer treatments. Immunotherapy is a standard treatment for some types of cancer. And it is in trials for other types of cancer.

The immune system includes the lymph glands, spleen and white blood cells. Normally, it can spot and destroy faulty cells in the body, stopping cancer developing. But a cancer might develop when:

● the immune system recognises cancer cells but it is not strong enough to kill the cancer cells
● the cancer cells produce signals that stop the immune system from attacking it
● the cancer cells hide or escape from the immune system

Immunotherapy helps our immune system to fight cancer. There are different types of immunotherapy treatments. These work in different ways to help our immune system recognise and attack cancer cells.
Cancer immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology, is a form of cancer treatment that uses the power of the body’s own immune system to prevent, control, and eliminate cancer. Immunotherapy can:
● Educate the immune system to recognize and attack specific cancer cells
● Boost immune cells to help them eliminate cancer
● Provide the body with additional components to enhance the immune response
Cancer immunotherapy comes in a variety of forms, including targeted monoclonal antibodies(MABs), cancer vaccines, adoptive cell transfer, tumor-infecting viruses, checkpoint inhibitors, cytokines, and adjuvants. Immunotherapies are a form of biotherapy also called biologic therapy or biological response modifier (BRM) therapy because they use materials from living organisms to fight disease. Some immunotherapy treatments use genetic engineering to enhance immune cells’ cancer-fighting capabilities and may be referred to as gene therapies. Many immunotherapy treatments for preventing, managing, or treating different cancers can also be used in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted therapies to improve their effectiveness.

Why immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is not suitable for all types of cancers. But it is one of the main treatments for a few types. Researchers are also looking at immunotherapy in clinical trials for some types of cancer. You can have immunotherapy on its own or in combination with other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Whether you have immunotherapy depends on the type of cancer you have, how far your cancer has spread (the stage) , other cancer treatments you’ve had. You might need to have tests using some of your cancer cells or a blood sample. This is to find out whether the treatment is likely to work. These tests look for changes in certain proteins or genes.

Types of immunotherapy

Immunotherapy treatments do not always fit easily into a certain type or group of treatments. This is because some drugs or treatments work in more than one way and belong to more than one group. So you might hear the same drug or treatment called different things. The types of immunotherapy are:
●Monoclonal antibodies(MABs)
Antibodies are found naturally in our blood and help us to fight infection. MAB therapies mimic natural antibodies but are made in a laboratory. Monoclonal means all one type. So each MAB therapy is a lot of copies of one type of antibody. MABs recognise and attach to specific proteins on the surface of cancer cells. Many different MABs are available to treat cancer. They work in different ways and some work in more than one way.MABs work as an immunotherapy in different ways. They might do one of the following:

1) Trigger the immune system
2) Help the immune system to attack cancer

●Checkpoint inhibitors
Checkpoint inhibitors are MABs that work by helping the immune system attack cancer cells. Cancer can sometimes push a stop button on the immune cells, so the immune system won’t attack them. Checkpoint inhibitors block cancers from pushing the stop button.
● vaccines
Vaccines are a type of immunotherapy. Unlike vaccines to protect us from disease, cancer treatment vaccines are for people who already have cancer. Cancer vaccines help your body’s immune system recognise and attack cancer cells.
● Cytokines
Cytokines are a group of proteins in the body that play an important part in boosting the immune system. Interferon and interleukin are types of cytokines found in the body. The man made version of interleukin is called aldesleukin. Interferon and aldesleukin work in several ways, including:

1) Interfering with the way cancer cells grow and multiply
2) Stimulating the immune system and encouraging killer T cells and other cells to attack cancer cells
3) Encouraging cancer cells to produce chemicals that attract immune system cells to them
● CAR-T cell therapy
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy. You might also hear it called a type of adoptive cell transfer. CAR T-cell therapy is a very complex and specialist treatment. With this treatment, a specialist collects and makes a small change to your T cells. After a few weeks, you have a drip containing these cells back into your bloodstream. The CAR T-cells then recognise and attack the cancer cells. It is available as a possible treatment for some children with leukaemia and some adults with lymphoma. People with other types of cancer might have it as part of a clinical trial.