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Immunotherapy
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What is Immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps the body’s immune system recognise and fight cancer cells more effectively. Normally, the immune system identifies and destroys abnormal cells, but cancer cells can sometimes avoid detection and continue to grow. Immunotherapy works by strengthening or modifying the immune response, making it easier for the body to identify and attack cancer cells. It is used in the treatment of several cancers, including lung cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, lymphoma, and certain blood cancers.
Depending on the type of cancer and the patient’s condition, immunotherapy may be used alone or combined with other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or targeted therapy. It can be administered through intravenous infusions, injections, oral medications, or specialised cell-based therapies. By enhancing the body’s natural defence mechanisms, immunotherapy has become an important treatment option that can help control cancer growth, improve treatment outcomes, and provide long-term benefits for some patients.

Types of Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is not a single treatment but a group of therapies that help the immune system identify and fight cancer more effectively. The treatment recommended depends on the type of cancer, its stage, and individual patient factors.

• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Cancer cells can sometimes avoid detection by using certain proteins that suppress the immune response. Checkpoint inhibitors block these proteins, allowing immune cells to recognise and attack cancer more effectively. These therapies are widely used in cancers such as lung cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer.
• Monoclonal Antibody Therapy: Monoclonal antibodies are specially developed proteins that target specific markers on cancer cells. Once attached to these targets, they can help the immune system identify cancer cells or interfere with signals that promote tumour growth.
• CAR T-Cell Therapy: CAR T-cell therapy is a personalised treatment in which a patient’s T-cells are collected and modified in a laboratory to better recognise cancer cells. The enhanced cells are then returned to the body to help fight the disease. This approach is mainly used for certain types of leukemia and lymphoma.
• Cancer Vaccines: Cancer vaccines are designed to stimulate the immune system against cancer-related targets. Some are used to treat existing cancers, while others help prevent cancers associated with specific viral infections.
• Cytokine Therapy: Cytokines are proteins that naturally help regulate immune responses. In cancer treatment, laboratory-produced cytokines may be used to strengthen the activity of immune cells and improve the body’s ability to fight cancer.
• Adoptive Cell Therapy: This treatment involves collecting immune cells from the patient, increasing their number or enhancing their cancer-fighting ability in a laboratory, and then reintroducing them into the body to improve the immune response.
• Oncolytic Virus Therapy: This approach uses modified viruses that are designed to infect and destroy cancer cells. As the cancer cells break down, the immune system may also become more active against remaining tumour cells.
• Immunomodulatory Drugs: These medications help regulate or enhance immune system activity. They are commonly used in certain blood cancers and are often combined with other treatment methods to improve effectiveness.

Different immunotherapy options work in different ways, which is why treatment selection is based on careful evaluation by a medical oncologist. The goal is to choose the approach most likely to benefit the patient while considering safety, effectiveness, and overall treatment objectives.