Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that encourages the work of the immune system or the immune system to be more effective in fighting diseases, including cancer. This treatment can be given by infusion, oral medication, topical cream, or injected directly into the bladder of cancer sufferers.
Immunotherapy is said to slow down, stop the development of cancer cells, and prevent it from spreading to other organs. A number of types of cancer, such as skin, lung, kidney, bladder and lymphoma, have been proven to be treated with immunotherapy. Some types of advanced cancer, such as cervical cancer stage 4, can also sometimes be treated with immunotherapy.
Reasons for Using Immunotherapy to Manage Cancer
One reason that makes cancer cells difficult to handle is because the immune system sometimes cannot recognize it as a foreign object. Some cancer cells are very similar to normal cells, so the immune system does not attack it.
Although the immune system can recognize cancer cells, the response is sometimes not strong enough to kill it. Moreover, the development of cancer cells is very fast and uncontrolled.
Treatment with immunotherapy is done so that the immune system is more intelligent at recognizing cancer cells and strengthens the immune system's response to cancer cells, so that the development of malignant cells can be slowed, even stopped.
Immunotherapy was chosen as a cancer treatment for the following reasons:
- Immunotherapy is considered more effective than other cancer treatments, such as radiation or chemotherapy, especially in skin cancer.
- Immunotherapy can help the effectiveness of other treatments that are being carried out. For example, the performance of chemotherapy can be better when the patient is also undergoing immunotherapy.
- Immunotherapy has smaller side effects than other treatments, because immunotherapy makes the immune system only attack specific cancer cells.
- Immunotherapy can minimize cancer to reappear, because this treatment triggers immunomemori, which is the ability of the immune system to remember cancer cells, so it will be attacked immediately when it reappears.
Various Types of Immunotherapy
In treating cancer, there are several types of immunotherapy that can be used, namely:
1. Monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are artificial immune proteins. This protein is specifically designed to be able to specifically mark cancer cells, so that it can kill malignant cells without participating in destroying healthy cells.
2. Checkpoint inhibitors
Checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that can help the immune system respond to cancer cells. The way it works is to disrupt the ability of cancer cells to avoid attacks by the immune system.
3. Vaccines
Vaccines are substances that are injected into the body to encourage an immune response to a disease. In cancer treatment, vaccines can be used both to prevent and to treat cancer.
4. Non-specific immunotherapy
Non-specific immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy that can improve overall immune system performance. Some types of immune system boosters that are commonly used are cytokines and BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin).
Consider the negative effects of immunotherapy
Some of the common side effects that occur during treatment are pain, swelling, redness, itching, and skin rashes at the injection site. In addition, flu symptoms can also occur, such as fever, dizziness, muscle aches, and headaches.
These side effects can vary from patient to patient, depending on their health conditions, the type of cancer they suffer, the type of immunotherapy they take, and the dosage given.
Besides having side effects, immunotherapy also has a number of other risks, namely:
Potential to damage other organs
Some types of immunotherapy can make the immune system attack other organs, such as the heart, intestines, lungs, and kidneys.
Therapy results are not always fast
In some cases, immunotherapy can last longer than other cancer treatments.
Not necessarily suitable for everyone
In some people, immunotherapy does not kill cancer cells, but only makes these cells stop developing. However, the cause is unknown.
The possibility of cancer cells developing again
The body can become immune to this therapy, where some initial therapy can give positive results, but then the cancer cells develop again.
Besides having benefits, immunotherapy also has risks. Therefore, discuss with your doctor in detail before you decide to undergo immunotherapy as a cancer treatment.
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