Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that enhances the body's natural defenses to fight cancer. It uses substances made by the body or laboratory to improve how the immune system works to find and destroy cancer cells.
The immune system includes complex process that the body uses to fight illness. Cancer can commonly get over many of the immune system's natural defenses, allowing cancer cells to grow.
Some immunotherapy treatments help the immune system slow cancer cells' growth and stop it. Others allow the immune system to destroy cancer cells or stop cancer from spreading to other body parts. Immunotherapy treatments can be used alone or integrated with other cancer treatments.
The type of drug, dose, and treatment will depend on many factors. These include the type of cancer, size, location, and where it has spread. Age, general health, body weight, and how well the patient can cope with side effects are also important.
Immunotherapy is the treatment that uses certain parts of a person's immune system to fight cancer.
In the last few decades, immunotherapy has become an essential part of treating different types of cancer. New advancements in immunotherapy treatments are being tested and approved.
Authored by Dr K Srinivas Rao - Best Radiation Oncologist in Gachibowli, Hyderabad