Immunotherapies

Immunotherapies

Definition

Immunotherapies are treatments designed to harness and enhance the body’s immune system to fight diseases, particularly blood cancers and solid organ tumors. They involve stimulating or suppressing the immune response to improve the body’s ability to recognize and destroy abnormal cells, such as cancer cells. Immunotherapy can also be used to treat autoimmune disorders and allergies.

Types of Immunotherapies

1. Monoclonal Antibodies: Laboratory-produced molecules that can bind to specific targets on cancer cells, marking them for destruction by the immune system. Examples include trastuzumab (Herceptin) for breast cancer and rituximab for certain lymphomas.
2. Checkpoint Inhibitors: These drugs block proteins that prevent the immune system from attacking cancer cells. By inhibiting these checkpoints, the immune response is enhanced. Examples include pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo).
3. Cytokine Therapy: Involves the use of cytokines (proteins that regulate immune responses) to boost the immune system’s activity. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is an example used in some cancer treatments.
4. T-Cell Transfer Therapy: This method involves extracting T-cells from a patient, modifying them to better attack cancer cells (as in CAR-T therapy), and then reinfusing them into the patient.
5. Vaccines: Therapeutic vaccines are designed to elicit an immune response against cancer cells, as opposed to preventive vaccines that protect against infections. An example is the sipuleucel-T (Provenge) vaccine for prostate cancer.
6. Oncolytic Virus Therapy: This approach uses genetically modified viruses that selectively infect and kill cancer cells while stimulating an immune response against tumors.
7. Cellular Therapies: These include therapies using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or other types of immune cells to treat diseases by enhancing the body’s natural healing processes.

Conclusion

Immunotherapies represent a promising advancement in medical treatment, particularly in oncology, by leveraging the body’s immune system to combat diseases more effectively than traditional therapies alone. As research and clinical trials continues, immunotherapy is expanding into various fields beyond cancer treatment.

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References

1. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2024). Immunotherapy Definition & Meaning. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster.
2. Wikipedia contributors. (2023). Immunotherapy. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from Wikipedia.
3. American Cancer Society. (2023). What Is Immunotherapy? Retrieved from American Cancer Society.
4. National Cancer Institute (NCI). (2023). Immunotherapy for Cancer. Retrieved from NCI.