Contents
Introduction
Cancer Immunotherapy has significantly enhanced survival rates and transformed cancer from a terminal disease into a manageable condition. People diagnosed with cancer today often face severe side effects and uncertain outcomes from traditional treatments like radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy. New, innovative therapies are emerging to address these issues.
Recent advancements include immunotherapy (both active and passive), stem cell-based treatments, and nanocarrier-based therapies, which offer improved specificity and reduced off-target effects compared to conventional methods. However, they also raise various clinical, ethical, and regulatory challenges. Some promising therapies face delays in reaching the market due to regulatory hurdles.
What is cancer immunotherapy?
Cancer immunotherapy is a treatment that leverages the body’s own immune system to combat cancer. This approach, known as biological therapy, utilises substances derived from living organisms to enhance the immune system’s capability to target cancer cells. Immunotherapy enhances the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.
Source:Cancer immunotherapy types include the use of immune-checkpoint…
How does cancer immunotherapy work?
The immune system plays a crucial role in identifying and eliminating abnormal cells, including those that might become cancerous. This surveillance function is vital for preventing cancer from developing or progressing. Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are a key indicator of the immune system’s response to tumours. A high presence of these immune cells within a tumour typically indicates that the immune system is actively engaging in the fight against the cancer.Cancer can develop when:
- The immune system recognizes cancer cells but is too weak to destroy them.
- Cancer cells produce signals that prevent the immune system from attacking.
- Cancer cells hide or escape from the immune system.
Immunotherapy helps the immune system to better act against cancer.
What are the types of cancer immunotherapy?
Monoclonal Antibodies: Monoclonal antibodies, artificially created immune system proteins designed to target specific molecules on cancer cells. By tagging these cells for destruction, they enhance the immune system’s ability to identify and eliminate cancer cells more efficiently.These antibodies are a form of immunotherapy.
Checkpoint inhibitors: Immune checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that block immune checkpoints, which prevents the immune system from overreacting. By inhibiting these checkpoints, the drugs enable immune cells to mount a stronger attack against cancer.
Vaccines: Vaccines designed to treat cancer aim to stimulate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. Unlike preventive vaccines, these therapeutic vaccines target specific cancer-related antigens to provoke an immune response against existing tumours. They help the body’s immune system identify and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
Cytokines: Cytokines are a group of proteins in the body that play an important part in boosting the immune system. Our body has interferons and interleukins which are types of cytokines. These cytokines help to boost the immune response against cancer by either directly stimulating immune cells or by enhancing their ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
Source:Interleukin-12 in multimodal tumor therapies for induction of anti-tumor immunity
CAR-T cell therapy: CAR T-cell therapy is a cutting-edge cancer treatment that involves modifying a patient’s own T cells to better recognize and attack cancer cells. CAR stands for chimeric antigen receptor.
T cells are extracted from the patient’s blood. In the lab, these T cells are genetically engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. These CARs are designed to specifically recognize proteins found on cancer cells. The modified T cells are multiplied to create a large number of CAR T cells. The engineered T cells are infused back into the patient’s bloodstream and once inside the body, the CAR T cells seek out and bind to cancer cells that have the targeted protein, leading to their destruction.
Source:CAR T-Cell Therapy: What It Is & How It Works
Which cancers are treated with cancer immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy has achieved significant success in treating advanced cancers such as lung cancer, melanoma, lymphomas, bladder cancer, and kidney cancer. CAR T-cell therapy has shown significant success in treating certain types of blood cancers, such as lymphomas and leukaemia and people with other types of cancer might have it as part of a clinical trial. The range of cancers treatable with immunotherapy is expanding as ongoing clinical trials continue to explore new drugs and applications.
Cancer Immunotherapy side effects
Cancer immunotherapy can be highly effective, but it also comes with potential side effects and these can vary depending on the type of immunotherapy used and the individual patient. Common side effects include:
- Flu like symptoms
- Skin reactions
- Digestive issues
- Joint and muscle pain
- Neurological effects
- Autoimmune reactions
Monitoring and managing these side effects is crucial and often involves supportive care and medications to alleviate symptoms.
What is the current research in cancer immunotherapy?
Current research in immunotherapy focuses on expanding its effectiveness and applications. Some of the key areas of investigation include
- exploring combinations of immunotherapies with other treatments
- Personalised Immunotherapy
- Enhancing T Cell Therapy
- Checkpoint Inhibitor Combinations
- Oncolytic Virus Therapy
Conclusion
Cancer immunotherapy emerged from extensive cancer research and technological advancements aimed at finding effective treatments. Due to cancer’s complexity, developing smart delivery systems is crucial for managing and eliminating tumours. Successful cancer remission relies on testing novel strategies and therapies in preclinical and clinical studies, although challenges remain in enhancing drug delivery and effectiveness, combining therapies with advanced delivery technologies can lead to successful clinical outcomes.
written by Shruthi
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8863908
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/immunotherapy/what-is-immunotherapy