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[This story was written by Christina L. Lombardi, PharmD, Cancer Care Service Line & Research Clinical Pharmacist, St. Peter’s Health Partners.]
Immunotherapy has been around for a long time, but began to play a more important role in the treatment of cancer about 20 years ago. Immunotherapy treatment works by strengthening your body’s immune system to help it fight cancer more effectively.
Cancer cells are atypical and usually grow faster than the body can handle on its own. Your immune system finds and destroys cells in the body that are atypical and, therefore, can potentially reduce the growth of cancer cells.
Even with a functioning immune system, some cancer cells are able to avoid detection and destruction due to their genes, proteins, or other immune system hiding mechanisms. This is where immunotherapy can be of great benefit.
The different types of immunotherapy include:
- Checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that block the immune system’s checkpoints that allow it to fight cancer more effectively.
- Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a treatment that improves the ability of a patient’s T cells to fight cancer. T cells play an important role in the immune system.
- Cancer vaccines are used in people diagnosed with cancer to fight cancer cells, which is different from vaccines used to prevent cancer.
- Immune system modulators are drugs that enhance the body’s natural immune response to cancer cells.
There are a wide variety of immunotherapy treatments available, which can be given to a patient in different ways, to treat many different types of cancer. Immunotherapy can be delivered: by injection directly into a vein; in pill or capsule form to swallow; on the skin like a cream; or directly into the bladder. How immunotherapy is given and when it is given depends on the type of cancer being treated, as well as where the patient is in their treatment journey.
As with most medicines, immunotherapy can cause side effects and can happen at any time during treatment. Some of the more common side effects include rash, diarrhea, and fatigue. Your healthcare team will help reduce side effects and work with you to balance your treatment plan with your daily activities and quality of life.
A cancer diagnosis can be very frightening and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The St. Peter’s multidisciplinary cancer care team – at St. Peter’s Hospital Cancer Care Center in Albany or the Hildegard Medicus Cancer Center at Samaritan Hospital, St. Mary’s Campus in Troy – is here to support and grow a personalized treatment plan based on the type, location and extent of your cancer.
We are accredited as a comprehensive community cancer care program by the American College of Surgeons Commission and an annual recipient of the Women’s Choice Award for America’s Top Cancer Hospitals since 2017. For more information, please call 518 -525-1827 or visit www.sphp.com.
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