Immunotherapy: A New Cancer Treatment Using the Body's Natural Defenses
The world of medicine has been optimistic about the new treatment called immunotherapy. The concept dates back to the 1970s, and now, there has been real evidence that immunotherapy has the capability to halt cancer, The Guardian reports.
A new study by the Moffitt Cancer Center has revealed that the use of two immunotherapeutic agents, nivolumab and ipilimumab, is more effective in treating patients with small cell lung cancer who have failed to respond to initial chemotherapy.
Meanwhile, Kathy Boltz, Ph.D., reports a review has found that combining radiation treatments with immunotherapies could help in treating melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. In another case, researchers led by Professor Ugur Sahin from Johannes Gutenberg University found out that after patients with tumors used an immunotherapeutic vaccine, their condition stabilized. In some cases, the tumor decreased in size or disappeared altogether.
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"Immunotherapy for cancer is a rapidly evolving and exciting field. This new study shows that an immune response against the antigens within a cancer can be triggered by a new type of cancer vaccine," said Professor Alan Melcher from the Institute of Cancer Research.
According to the Cancer Research Institute, immunotherapy is a treatment working to "harness the innate powers of the immune system to fight cancer."
Unlike other treatments, immunotherapy attacks cancer systematically and trains the body to recognize cancer cells from the healthy cells of the body, which in turn would not have the patient suffer the side effects he would have to go through with chemotherapy.
Patients who have tried are promised with long-term effects of treatment, meaning the disease is highly likely not to recur. Also, most important, immunotherapy has been effective in treating all types of cancer so far.
"Immunotherapy should be continued for as long as there is clinical benefit and there is not serious side effects," said Stephen Lemon M.D. of the Oncology Associates as he explained how immunotherapy works in treating cancer.
Wilford Bruce, a man whose wife was a patient with pancreatic cancer, has been thankful for the center which tests the effectivity of immunotherapy to treat cancer. He says the center has allowed him to be with his wife for two and a half more years when she was initially told she only had six months left to live.
