Immunotherapy to treat cancer

Providers might recommend immunotherapy to help people diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. Immunotherapy is a treatment option if cancer treatment isn’t working or if cancer has returned. Understanding how immunotherapy works can help people be better prepared for this stage of their care journey.

What is immunotherapy?

The body’s own immune system is designed to help people stay healthy from illness and disease. Cancer cells can change or alter healthy cells quickly and grow out of control. Using people’s own immune system, immunotherapy is designed to alert the immune system about these mutated cells, and help the body locate and destroy the cancer cells.

How does immunotherapy work?

The body’s immune system naturally works to detect and destroy abnormal cells. But the unpredictability of cancer cells can make it complicated for the immune system to kill all cancer cells. Immunotherapy works by helping the immune system better detect these changes that might make cancer cells harder to detect and destroy.

Sometimes cancer immunotherapy is used on its own. Other times it's used in conjunction with other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy or surgery.

Types of immunotherapies

There are several types of immunotherapies approved to treat cancer. Most immunotherapy cancer treatments are given orally through medications taken at home or as an injection or infusion through an IV line into a vein that’s administered in an outpatient setting.

Here’s a look at some of the current immunotherapy treatments being used.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

While immune checkpoint inhibitors don’t directly kill cancer cells, they do help the immune system better find and attack cancer cells in the body. These medications target different “checkpoint” proteins in cells, which helps the body identify which cells are cancerous.

Monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies are created proteins that mimic actual antibodies. These antibodies attach to the cancerous cells and kill them.

Adoptive cell therapy

Also known as cellular immunotherapy, adoptive cell therapy takes the T cells that already destroyed cancerous tumors. The cells are activated and expanded before being reinfused. These new cells seek out and destroy tumors.

Cancer vaccines

Vaccines, such as a flu shot or shingles vaccine, are typically administered to help prevent illness by using weakened viruses that prepare the body to fight off an infection. Instead of preventing a disease, cancer vaccines train the body to attack cancer cells already in the body.

Immune system modulators

Immune system modulators are a group of drugs used to treat cancer. They range in form and the way they work. For example, one type of immunotherapy is a liquid put into the bladder using a catheter and used to attack cancer cells.

Immunotherapy side effects

Side effects depend on the type of immunotherapy cancer treatment received. Unlike chemotherapy, where side effects happen during treatment, most side effects for immunotherapy begin months after treatment begins.

Common side effects for cancer immunotherapy may include:

• Fatigue
• Fever
• Chills
• Muscle, joint or back pain
• Nausea or vomiting
• Headache
• Diarrhea or constipation

How often are immunotherapy treatments given?

There are many factors that determine how frequently people receive immunotherapy. Treatments may be given daily, weekly or monthly. Others are given in cycles so the body has time to rest between treatments.

What cancers does immunotherapy treat?

Immunotherapy cancer treatment has proven effective in treating many types of cancers. And research is on-going to see if it’s an effective treatment for other types of cancers. Here are some of the cancers where providers often use immunotherapy as a treatment option.