Immunotherapy

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a specialized treatment that uses your body’s immune system to fight cancer. Although immunotherapy for cancer was introduced in the 1890s, recent research has increased the effectiveness of this treatment for people with certain types of cancer. Medical oncologists at Reid Cancer Center in Richmond, Indiana, can help you determine if immunotherapy is a good treatment option for you.

Eligibility for immunotherapy at Reid

Every person is different, so not everyone with cancer will qualify for immunotherapy or benefit from this type of treatment. You don’t have to be diagnosed at Reid to receive immunotherapy here. Our providers can work with your provider to coordinate care.

At Reid, your cancer care team will review these factors to determine if you qualify for immunotherapy:

• The type of cancer you have
• The stage of your cancer (how much it has grown or spread)
• Current treatment guidelines and recommendations
• Your age and overall health

How immunotherapy works

Your immune system is made up of white blood cells, tissues, and organs (like your spleen) that work together to keep you from getting sick.  

However, cancer cells are good at hiding from the immune system. They can have genetic changes that stop the immune system from recognizing them and proteins that interfere with how the immune system works. Cancer cells can also affect nearby healthy cells, changing how the immune system responds to them. 

Cancer immunotherapy trains your immune system to recognize these “tricks” so it can fight cancer.

Types of immunotherapy

Cancer vaccines

Most vaccines you receive, like the flu shot, help prevent a disease or virus. But cancer treatment vaccines are used for people who already have cancer. These vaccines help the immune system recognize cancer cells and work to destroy them.  

Cancer cells contain substances, called tumor-associated antigens, that aren’t present in healthy cells. When these substances are introduced into the body with cancer vaccines, the immune system can be trained to recognize and target cancer cells that have these antigens.  

CAR T-cell therapy

T cells are a type of white blood cell located in the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, and blood. You have billions of T cells, which help your body identify and fight infection. Cancer cells can avoid detection by T cells. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy allows your provider to engineer T cells to better fight cancer.

Chimeric antigen receptors can attach themselves to proteins that live on cancer cells, telling T cells to find and attack those cancer cells. In CAR T-cell therapy, your blood is removed and sent to a lab, where T cells are extracted and CAR genes added. These new CAR T cells continue to grow and then are infused back into the you.  

Right now, CAR T-cell therapy is approved to treat advanced leukemias and lymphomas (types of blood cancer) and multiple myeloma (which affects plasma cells).

Cytokines

Cytokines are small proteins made in the body or in the lab that affect the growth of red blood cells and other cells involved in the immune system. When cytokines are released, they tell the immune system to start protecting the body. They also tell the body’s normal cells to keep working and abnormal cells to stop. Cytokines are sometimes used to prevent or manage chemotherapy side effects.

A group of cytokines called interleukins help immune system cells grow and divide more quickly so they can attack cancer better and faster. Cytokines are often combined with chemotherapy.  Currently, cytokines are used to treat two types of cancer: advanced kidney cancer and melanoma that has spread (metastatic melanoma).

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

Immune checkpoints are part of a healthy immune system and help prevent it from working too hard and possibly destroying healthy cells. Checkpoint inhibitors help the immune system identify cancer cells and tumors and attack them.  

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are among the most widely used forms of immunotherapy. They can treat solid tumors with problems in their DNA as well as:

• Bladder cancer
• Breast cancer
• Certain forms of kidney cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Head and neck cancer
• Hodgkin lymphoma
• Liver cancer
• Lung cancer
• Melanoma and other skin cancers
• Stomach cancer 

Immunotherapy side effects

Because immunotherapies interfere with how your body fights off illnesses, immunotherapies can cause a range of side effects that vary based on the type and medications you receive.

Some common side effects include:

• Constipation
• Cough
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Muscle and joint pain
• Nausea
• Poor appetite
• Skin rash

Occasionally, more serious reactions can occur.