Cancer Information

Posts Tagged ‘immunotherapy’

Non-specific Immunotherapies

Non-specific immunotherapies also help the immune system to fight cancer. Most non-specific immunotherapies are administered after or simultaneously with other treatments for cancer, for example, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Some non-specific immunotherapies are administered alone as treatments.

Here are three non-specific immunotherapy:

Interferons. Interferons help the immune system to fight cancer and also can slow the growth of cancer cells. An interferon produced in a laboratory, called interferon alpha (Roferon-A [2a], Intron A [2b], Alferon N), is the most frequently used in cancer treatment. Interferon alpha is used to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma, hairy cell leukemia (hairy), kidney cancer, melanoma, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Kaposi sarcoma. Side effects of interferon therapy may include symptoms similar to flu, an increased risk of infections, rashes and thinning hair. Read the rest of this entry »

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy (also called biologic therapy or biotherapy) is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Doctors and researchers are unsure on how to treat cancer immunotherapy. However, think that can act as follows:

- to stop or slow the growth of cancer cells;
- to prevent the cancer spreading to other parts of the body;
- to help the immune system more effective in eliminating cancer cells.

There are several types of immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, nonspecific immunotherapies and vaccines against cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Treatments

Surgery: invasive technique to remove the tumor. Usually also extracted tissue surrounding the tumor, to prevent metastasis.

Radiation therapy: high-energy rays are used to damage cancer cells, thereby halting its growth and division.

Chemotherapy is drug treatment, which involves the injection of drugs that attack cancer cells in blood vessels or muscles. Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles, ie, after a treatment period is a recovery.
Read the rest of this entry »