Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. it is expected that The incidence rate of cancer rise from 19 to 24 million and the death rate from 9 million to 13 million by 2030
Estimated number of new cases from 2020 to 2030
Estimated number of deaths from 2020 to 2030
Traditional cancer therapies are not ideal
Traditional treatments are frequently ineffective and can be significantly harmful to the patient with side effects including:
• Heart problems
• Lung damage
• Permanent scarring
• Loss of reproductive capabilities
• Severe pain & sickness
• Loss of limbs & death
Immunotherapy a powerful new tool to eradicate cancer
* How does immunotherapy work against cancer?
As part of its usual function, the immune system detects and eliminates abnormal cells and prevents the growth of many cancers. For example, immune cells sometimes infiltrate in and around tumors. These cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs, and are a the sign that the immune system is responding to the tumor. People whose tumors contain TILs often do better than people whose tumors don’t contain them. Even though the immune system can prevent or slow cancer development, cancer cells have ways to evade the immune system. For example, cancer cells may: Have genetic modifications that make them less visible to the immune system or expressing special proteins on their surface that turn off immune cells or Change the normal cells around the tumor so they interrupt how the immune system responds to the cancer cells Immunotherapy helps the immune system to better act against cancer in this situation.
What are the types of immunotherapy?
Several types of immunotherapy are used to treat cancer. These include:
1- Immune checkpoint inhibitors: which are drugs that block immune checkpoints. These checkpoints are a normal part of the immune system and keep immune responses from being too strong. By blocking them, these drugs allow immune cells to respond more strongly to cancer.
2- Monoclonal antibodies: Targeted antibodies are a form of cancer immunotherapy treatment that can disrupt cancer cell activity and alert the immune system to target and eliminate cancer cells.
3- Treatment vaccines: Cancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy that can help educate the immune system about what cancer cells “look like” so that it can recognize and eliminate them.
4- Cell Therapy: Adoptive cell therapy, also known as cellular immunotherapy, is a form of treatment that uses the cells of our immune system to eliminate cancer.
How often do you receive immunotherapy?
How often and how long you receive immunotherapy depends on:
your type of cancer and how advanced it is
the type of immunotherapy you get
how your body reacts to treatment
You may have treatment every day, week, or month. Some types of immunotherapy given in cycles. A cycle is a period of treatment followed by a period of rest. The rest period gives your body a chance to recover, respond to immunotherapy, and build new healthy cells.
What Are the Advantages?
There are many reasons your doctor might consider immunotherapy is a suitable option for you:
-1 Immunotherapy may work when other treatments don’t. Some cancers like skin cancer don’t respond satisfactorily to radiation or chemotherapy while destroy after immunotherapy.
-2 It can help other cancer treatments work better. Other therapies you have, like chemotherapy, may work better if you also have immunotherapy.
-3 It yields fewer side effects than other treatments. This is because it targets only your immune system and not all the healthy cells in your body.
-4 Your cancer may be less possible to return. When you have immunotherapy, your immune system learns to eliminate cancer cells if the recurrence happens. this is called Immunological memory, and it could help you stay cancer-free for a longer time.
You can have immunotherapy alone or in combination with other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy.
Whether you have immunotherapy relies on:
The type of cancer you have
your cancer stage
Other cancer treatments you’ve had
Before you have some types of immunotherapy you might need to have tested using some of your cancer cells or a blood sample. To test your cancer cells, your oncologist needs a sample (biopsy) of your cancer. They might be able to use some tissue from a biopsy or operation you have already had. This is to find out whether the treatment is likely to work. These tests look for modifications in proteins or genes. Your oncologist can tell you if this applies to your treatment. This is not the matter for all immunotherapies and you don’t always need this test