Immunotherapy Month 2025
June is Cancer Immunotherapy Month. Immunotherapy is an umbrella term describing multiple treatments that activate different parts of the immune system through different distinct strategies but share the same basic idea: harnessing and boosting the body’s natural ability to recognize and fight cancer through immunity. The immune system is a good candidate for treating cancer because part of its daily function is to detect and destroy abnormal cells. This style of cancer treatment has become standard of care for many different types of cancers and has extended the lives of multiple patients. Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to immunotherapy. It does not work for all cancer types, not all patients experience a response, and patients who initially benefit develop resistance to the therapy.
There are multiple types of immunotherapy. One type is immune checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs block immune checkpoints, which are ways to prevent the immune system from being too strong. Once they are blocked, the immune system can more aggressively fight cancer. Another type of immunotherapy is T-Cell transfer therapy. This helps to boost the ability of T cells to fight cancer. The treatment involves removing immune cells from the person’s tumor, with the most active cells being taken and changed in a lab to better attack cancer cells. They are then grown in large batches and administered via needle. Another treatment involves monoclonal antibodies, which are immune system proteins created in a lab. They are designed to bind to specific targets on cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies are used to mark cancer cells so they can be killed by the immune system. Another type of immunotherapy is treatment vaccines. They work by boosting the immune response to cancer cells. Finally, there are immune system modulators, which either affect the immune system generally or in more specific ways.
Immunotherapy is a very useful tool in the fight against cancer. It is not perfect though and more research needs to be done to enhance and improve outcomes for patients. One research topic includes trying to find a solution to treatment resistance. Researchers are combining immune checkpoint therapy, targeted therapy, and radiation therapy to try to find ways to overcome resistance to immunotherapy. Another interesting field of research is trying to find who will best benefit from immunotherapy regimens. Finally, researchers are trying to learn how cancer cells evade or suppress immune responses against them. Understanding these processes could lead to new drugs that block this process, improving overall cancer treatment.
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Sources:
“Immunotherapy to Treat Cancer” National Cancer Institute [Link]
“Recognizing Cancer Immunotherapy Month” American Association for Cancer Research (June 30, 2022). [Link]
