Immunotherapy to treat cancer

When cancer treatments aren’t working or if cancer returns, providers might recommend immunotherapy as a next step. Understanding how immunotherapy works to kill cancer cells and the types of treatment options available 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. This becomes challenging with cancer cells, which can quickly change or alter healthy cells and grow out of control. Immunotherapy uses people’s own immune system to alert the immune system about these mutated cells, and help the body locate and destroy the cancer cells.

How does immunotherapy work?

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.

Cancer immunotherapy can be used on its own or in conjunction with other cancer treatments including chemotherapy, hormone therapy or surgery.

Types of immunotherapies

Immunotherapy cancer treatments are given orally through medications taken at home. They also can be given 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 immunotherapies approved to treat cancer.

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

Adoptive cell therapy, also known as cellular immunotherapy, 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

While vaccines, such as a flu shot or shingles vaccine, are typically administered to help prevent illness, 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, bladder cancer is treated with a type of immune system modulator that’s a liquid put into the bladder using a catheter and used to attack cancer cells.

Immunotherapy side effects

People receiving chemotherapy often experience side effects during treatment. With immunotherapy, most side effects begin months after treatment begins.

Side effects depend on the type of immunotherapy cancer treatment received. 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.