What Is Immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy is a treatment method that uses the power of your own immune system to fight cancer. Unlike traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, which directly attack cancer cells, immunotherapy works by enabling your body’s natural defense mechanisms to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
How Does Immunotherapy Work?
Our immune system is constantly on alert against foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. It has a complex system of checks and balances to prevent it from attacking our own healthy cells. However, cancer cells can be clever and develop ways to evade the immune system—essentially hiding in plain sight from immune cells.
Immunotherapy treatments are designed to counteract these escape strategies used by cancer cells. The main mechanisms of action include:
- Boosting the immune system: Stimulates the immune system to work harder and more efficiently to attack cancer cells.
- Helping the immune system find cancer: Marks cancer cells, making it easier for the immune system to locate and destroy them.
- Releasing the immune system’s “brakes”: A common type of immunotherapy, known as checkpoint inhibitors, blocks the signals cancer cells use to suppress the immune response. This unleashes the full power of the immune system against the tumor.
Types of Immunotherapy
There are several different types of immunotherapy, each with a unique mechanism of action. The most common types include:
| Type of Immunotherapy | Description |
|---|---|
| Checkpoint Inhibitors | These drugs block the “brakes” in the immune system, allowing it to attack cancer cells more effectively. |
| Adoptive Cell Therapy | This involves collecting a patient’s own immune cells, modifying them in the laboratory to become better cancer fighters, and then infusing them back into the patient. CAR T-cell therapy is a well-known example. |
| Cancer Vaccines | These vaccines are designed to stimulate an immune response against cancer cells. They can be used to prevent cancer in healthy individuals (such as the HPV vaccine) or to treat existing cancer. |
| Oncolytic Virus Therapy | This treatment uses modified viruses that can infect and kill cancer cells while also stimulating an immune response. |
Which Cancers Are Treated With Immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy has been approved to treat a wide and growing range of cancers, including:
- Malignant melanoma
- Lung cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Head and neck cancers
- Breast cancer
- Liver cancer
- Stomach cancer
- Hodgkin lymphoma
Research is ongoing to expand the use of immunotherapy to even more cancer types.
What Are the Side Effects of Immunotherapy?
Because immunotherapy works by activating the immune system, it can sometimes cause the immune system to attack healthy cells and organs. Side effects are generally different from those of chemotherapy and can range from mild to severe. Common side effects include:
- Fatigue
- Skin rash or itching
- Diarrhea
- Flu-like symptoms
In addition to these, less common side effects may occur due to inflammation of organs caused by immune cells attacking the body’s own tissues (such as pneumonitis, hepatitis, pancreatitis, and myocarditis).
Although side effects are usually treatable and manageable, they can rarely be severe enough to require close monitoring and intensive treatment. It is important to report any new or worsening side effects to your doctor immediately.
It is also recommended that you carry informational cards indicating that you are receiving immunotherapy during your treatment period and show them to healthcare providers in emergency situations. This helps side effects to be recognized and managed more easily.
For detailed information about examination processes, treatment options, and appointment requests, you can contact us via the Contact page.