How does immunotherapy work against cancer?
Immunotherapy helps the immune system to better act against cancer. Immune cells are found in and around cancer cells. These are tumor-infiltrating cells. People with tumor-infiltrating cells do better than those without them.
How do cancer cells overcome the immune system?
Cancer cells have proteins on their cell surface that turn off immune cells. They change the normal cells around the tumor so they interfere with how the immune system responds to cancer cells.
What are the fundamentals of immune therapy?
Immunotherapy is a treatment that uses a person’s own immune system to fight cancer. immunotherapy can change or boost the person’s own immune system to eliminate cancer cells.
What are the types of cancer immunotherapy?
There are several types of immunotherapies. These are checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptors. CAR T cell therapy, cytokines, immunomodulatory therapy, cancer vaccines,
monoclonal antibodies and oncolytic viruses are viruses modified in a laboratory to infect and kill certain tumor cells.
What is the latest on immunotherapy from India?
Immunotherapy is an expensive therapy that costs 2 to 3 Lacs rupees per month. This makes it out of reach for most Indians. Dr. Kumar Prabhash of
Can immunotherapy be a sure shot treatment for cancer therapy? According to experts, it is too early to predicate. Dr. Kumar Prabhash has wide experience in using Dostarlbnab, a checkpoint inhibitor of cancer cells. He has used this form of therapy in colorectal cancer with good results. He advises doctors not to change their present line of treatment for colorectal cancers as the patient population in the trial conducted was very small.
What are the new innovations in immunotherapy that can help Indian cancer patients to do better?
There are certain guidelines Immunotherapy is a type of cancer therapy treatment that helps our immune system fight cancer. Generally, the immune system helps us to fight infections and other diseases. It is made of white blood cells and certain organs in our body related to the lymphatic system. Low-cost immunotherapy is the future of immunotherapy in India. This modulates our immune system to fight against cancer cells. Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai has devised a low-cost therapy costing 2’25000 per month by using a drug called Nivolumab in advanced head neck cancer. These patients had a better survival rate than those who did not receive it. Other forms of chemotherapy were continued along with the burning therapy. for each cancer therapy. These guidelines are followed by most cancer specialists all over the world. One branch of treatment of cancer is immunotherapy. This is in addition to surgery radiation and chemo-therapy Immunotherapy is extremely expensive. Indian researchers at Tata Hospital, Mumbai have experimented by giving one-tenth of the dose of immunotherapy in the advanced head neck, and colorectal cancers They have found encouraging results. This could become a game-changer for future immunotherapy.
Can this be applied to other diseases?
Though it is too early to say this would give impetus to scientists to work on low-dose immunotherapy for other cancers, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, and Wegner’s granulomatosis. This research if successful would reduce the cost, and side effects and increase acceptance of immunotherapy for many Rheumatology related diseases.
What about cancer and its therapy in India?
Cancer in India is growing at a very rapid pace. This is due to poverty, tobacco and alcohol use lack of exercise, pollution, and late diagnosis. However, in the last decade, there has been a better survival rate amongst cancer patients due to better diagnostic and treatment facilities. Many cancer patients have survived for more than a decade or more. Government insurance schemes have also helped cancer patients. The key is to prevent cancer at all costs and to detect it at the earliest stage Low dose immunotherapy in addition to other modalities has increased the excitement amongst caregivers of cancer patients This would reduce the cost burden and greater acceptance.
