Immunotherapy: Harnessing the Power of Immune System to Fight Cancer

Immunotherapy: Harnessing the Power of Immune System to Fight Cancer

A form of cancer treatment known as Immunotherapy makes use of the patient’s own immune system to fight the persisting cancer in the body. It has come to light as a ground-breaking strategy in the area of oncology, completely altering the way we think about cancer treatment.

The immune system is an intricate system of cells and chemicals that collaborate to defend the body against dangerous pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, present in your body. Immunotherapy, or cancer therapy stimulating the immune system, evolved during the last ten years from a potential therapeutic possibility to a solid clinical reality.

Types of Immunotherapy

Cancer is effectively treated by the top cancer specialist in Bangalore at Apollo Hospitals with a number of Immunotherapy techniques. A few of these include:

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Immunological checkpoint inhibitors are medications that stop immunological checkpoints in the body. The immune system naturally has these checkpoints, which prevent too powerful immune responses. These medications enable immune cells to react to cancer more forcefully by inhibiting them.

●       CAR-T Cell Therapy

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy (CAR-T) is a further development in cancer immunotherapy. This method entails genetically altering a patient’s T cells, an immune cell type, to express receptors that can identify particular cancer cells. The patient’s body then receives these altered T cells again, where they proliferate and begin a concentrated attack on cancer cells. This therapy has demonstrated extraordinary results in patients who have tried every other form of treatment, giving people who have few other options for treatment a ray of hope.

●       Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL)

In TIL treatment, immune cells are taken out of a patient’s tumour, multiplied in a lab, and then infused back into the patient. With some patients achieving complete and persistent remission, this strategy has shown outstanding outcomes when treating Metastatic Melanoma. It can be used to treat a variety of malignancies, including lung, genitourinary, and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. 

●       Monoclonal Antibodies

A type of immune system protein known as a monoclonal antibody is made in a lab and is intended to attach to certain sites on cancer cells. In order for the immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells more effectively, certain monoclonal antibodies label cancer cells. This kind of Immunotherapy uses monoclonal antibodies. Antibodies for treatment is another name for monoclonal antibodies.

●       Adoptive Cell Transfer

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT), commonly referred to as cellular Immunotherapy, is a promising strategy in cancer Immunotherapy that entails collecting and altering immune cells from a patient, mainly T cells, to improve their capacity to identify and eradicate cancer cells. The effectiveness of this strategy in treating specific forms of leukaemia, lymphoma, and solid tumours has been astounding, and research is still being done to improve ACT techniques. In order to strengthen immune cells’ capacity to combat cancer, ACT may potentially entail gene therapy.

●       Combination Therapies

Researchers are investigating the synergistic benefits of combining various Immunotherapies or Immunotherapy with other therapeutic techniques, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Combination medicines have demonstrated increased efficacy and higher response rates in treating several malignancies, including metastatic melanoma and lung cancer, by focusing on different routes and boosting distinct immune system functions.

●       Biomarkers for Treatment Selection

A biomarker is a quantifiable trait or indication that is used to assess biological functions, disease states, or treatment responses. Biomarkers might be individual cells or imaging characteristics, as well as compounds like proteins, nucleic acids, or metabolites. These quantifiable markers offer important details on the presence, severity, development, or response to therapy of disease. These indicators help in the decision-making process for medical care, ensuring that the patients who would most likely benefit from Immunotherapy receive the right care.

●       Personalised Vaccines

The development of personalised cancer vaccines has been facilitated by developments in immunology and genetics. These vaccines are made to specifically target the cancer cells that have those particular mutations that are present in the patient’s tumour, triggering an immune reaction against them.

How does Cancer Immunotherapy function?

The immune system recognises aberrant cells and eliminates them as part of regular functioning, which likely stops or slows the formation of many cancers. For instance, immune cells can occasionally be seen in and around tumours. These cells, also known as Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocytes or TILs, are an indication that the tumour is being recognised by the immune system. People who have tumours that have TILs often fare better treatment than those whose tumours do not. Even while the immune system can halt or limit the spread of cancer, the cancer cells have mechanisms for avoiding immune system eradication.

Cancer cells, for instance, could:

• Possess genetic alterations reducing their immune system’s ability to detect them.
• Include proteins that prevent immune cells from responding.
• Change the healthy cells around the tumour so that they obstruct the immune system’s ability to combat the cancer cells.

With the use of Immunotherapy, the immune system can fight cancer more effectively. Different Immunotherapy treatments can be administered in various ways at Cancer Hospital in Bangalore. These consist of the following:

• Intravenous (IV) – Immunotherapy is administered intravenously.
• Oral – Patients take tablets or capsules containing the Immunotherapy orally.
• Intravesical – Immunotherapy is administered directly into the urinary bladder.
• Topical – The Immunotherapy lotion is applied directly to the skin. Very early skin cancer can be treated with this kind of Immunotherapy.

Benefits of Immunotherapy

Generally speaking, immunotherapies are still less frequently used to treat cancer than either surgery or chemotherapy. But these medicines are now a significant treatment option for several forms of cancer. Clinical studies for several different immunotherapies are ongoing. Because they utilise the body’s natural ability to combat the tumour rather than injecting chemicals into the body, immunotherapies have the potential to be both more thorough and less damaging than other forms of Cancer Treatment in Bangalore.

Cancer therapy immunotherapies are a very active area of study, and new medications are continuously being approved.

Side Effects of Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has side effects that might interfere with normal living, much as most cancer therapies. The entire body is shielded by the immune system. Our immune system is altered during Immunotherapy to improve its capacity to combat cancer. However, healthy tissue may become inflamed as a result of immune cells attacking healthy cells. The term “irAE” stands for immune-related adverse effects, and nearly 20% of Immunotherapy patients had severe irAE. Some adverse consequences are-

• Fatigue
• Diarrhoea
• Itchy rash
• Pain or Weakness
• Decreased thyroid hormone levels
• Nausea & Vomiting

Immunotherapy at Apollo Hospitals, Karnataka

Apollo Hospitals, Karnataka, offers comprehensive cancer care and is the best Cancer Hospital Bangalore. A carefully chosen group of oncologists at the cancer specialist hospital in Bangalore make up our experienced team of oncologists, who collaboratively review each case and choose the patient’s best course of cancer treatment.

At Apollo Hospitals, the best Cancer Doctor in Bangalore is supported by specially qualified medical counsellors, dieticians, speech therapists, and other professionals, depending on each particular situation.