Immunotherapy to treat cancer: options & side effects

Anti-cancer treatments that activate the body’s immune system are known as Immunotherapy. Unlike healthy cells, cancer cells do not naturally die. Like a copy machine that can’t stop taking pictures, they swiftly divide.

It is possible for these aberrant cells to elude the body’s immune system by changing or mutating repeatedly. Cancer immunotherapy medicines are used to help the immune system find and eliminate these altered cells.

Immunotherapy works by stimulating the immune system to aid in the battle against cancer

Various Immunotherapies assault tumour cells in different ways. There are three primary forms of immunotherapy:

Using checkpoint inhibitors, the immune system is forced to target cancer cells since the signals sent by the cancer cells fool the immune system into believing they are healthy cells that have been broken. The combination of immunotherapy with conventional cancer therapies, such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy, is possible.

The adverse effects of immunotherapy may be summarised as:

Many of the adverse effects of immunotherapy are flu-like, including:

• Fatigue
• Vomiting or nausea
• Oral infections
• Diarrhoea
• Blood pressure that is above average.
• The accumulation of fluid in the legs

It is common for immunotherapy adverse effects to diminish after the first dose. Oncologists, nutritionists, pain management specialists, oncology rehab specialists, mental health specialists, and spiritual counsellors are part of your treatment team’s integrated care approach. Immunotherapy might have adverse effects, but these treatments may help alleviate them and improve your overall quality of life.

Immunotherapy has several advantages

Immunotherapies for cancer treatment are still less frequent than surgical or chemotherapeutic methods in the overall scheme of things. However, these medicines are now an essential therapy option for some forms of cancer. Clinical studies for other different immunotherapies are now ongoing.

For cancer, immunotherapies may be more thorough and less hazardous than conventional treatments since they employ the body’s immune system to combat the tumour rather than bringing drugs into the body. In cancer treatment, immunotherapies are a hotbed of activity, with new medicines being authorised all the time.

Conclusion

Many people want to learn more about their cancer diagnosis and treatment options, so they must approach Prolife Cancer Centre and Research Institute, Pune. They have access to a wide variety of diagnostics and treatment options including genetic testing and clinical trials.

About Dr. Sumit Shah