MyHealthTabs.com | A Trending Content Hub

What Nobody Wants You to Know about Cancer Immunotherapy Treatment

Is this new treatment option as “promising” or “revolutionary” as it is touted to be? Here’s what they do not want you to know about Cancer Immunotherapy treatment.

According to the National Cancer Institute , approximately 1.6 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2015, while around 600,000 people are likely to die of the disease this year. The most common cancers in 2015 were breast cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, prostate cancer, colon and rectum cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma of the skin, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, thyroid cancer, kidney and renal pelvis cancer, endometrial cancer, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer. However, the statistics also show that the number of people who will live beyond a cancer diagnosis will touch 19 million by 2024. This indicates an improvement in early detection techniques as well as cancer treatment options. The newest treatment option is that of cancer immunotherapy treatment. Touted to be a “revolutionary” approach to solving the cancer problem, and one of the most “promising” and “encouraging” treatment options out there, here’s the truth about cancer immunotherapy treatment that you ought to know.

What is cancer immunotherapy treatment?

Also known as biologic therapy, cancer immunotherapy treatment is a type of treatment that is designed to improve the body’s immune system and natural defenses to fight cancer. Unlike most other diseases, cancer is not an invading disease. In case of invader diseases, the body’s immune system is designed to fight and target the foreign cells. However, because cancer cells are the body’s own cells that have gone rogue, the immune system is not designed to target them as they are not recognized as foreign cells at all. Cancer immunotherapy treatment uses immunotherapy drugs to switch the immune system back on and target the cancerous cells as they would other foreign bodies.

What are the main types of cancer immunotherapy treatment?

Having been in use for over a decade now, cancer immunotherapy treatment has progressed and improved to a large extent. The main types of cancer immunotherapy treatment that are now in use to treat cancer include:

Monoclonal antibodies which are synthesized versions of the proteins naturally produced by the immune system. These antibodies are known to be very effective in treating certain types of cancer.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to deactivate the brakes that are naturally placed in the immune system, so that it can then recognize and annihilate cancer cells.
Cancer vaccines are used to start an immune response against certain types of cancer to help prevent or treat the condition. These include tumor cell vaccines, antigen vaccines, dendritic cell vaccines, and vector-based vaccines.
Non-specific immunotherapies are designed to boost the immune system in a generalized way, and still focus on attacking cancer cells.

Is cancer immunotherapy treatment effective?

There are plenty of international studies that are now using a combination of two immunotherapy drugs to treat certain types of cancer. For example, a study designed and conducted by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York tested the use of ipilimumab and nivolumab to prevent melanoma skin cancer from advancing – the test proved effective in more than 58 percent of the cases. Cancer immunotherapy treatment is considered particularly useful for treating cancers that have proven to be difficult to treat by other methods. These include melanomas, advanced lung cancer, and metastasized cancers.

Is there a downside to cancer immunotherapy treatment?

According to Cancer Research UK, though cancer immunotherapy treatment is considered to be “encouraging” and “promising”, the truth is that researchers are still to study long-term survival rates of cancer immunotherapy treatment . Furthermore, the side effects of this treatment option may be severe enough to offset its benefits for certain patients. These side effects include stomach inflammations and severe bowel inflammations requiring hospitalization.

Cancer immunotherapy treatment, especially the ones conducted with two drug combinations, may be a game changer in the long-run. However, this treatment is not yet ready to supersede other treatment options as the most effective cancer treatment option. Surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy are still more viable options to treat cancer. Cancer immunotherapy treatment in its current form may be used in combination with these other treatment options for optimal results.

Popular Reads

Everything You Need to Know About Haemophilia in Children

Get all your questions pertaining to haemophilia in children answered here. A first aid kit is your best friend as a parent. Children seem to know just how to walk in an unbalanced gait and topple over without any external help. The result is an extraordinary number of bumps and bruises that need more than a mother’s kiss to make better. While bruises and scrapes are a normal part of childhood, haemophilia children need extra care. A bruise or cut would heal and scab over for others, but for haemophilia children, even the smallest cuts are a cause of concern. If you are a parent with haemophilia children or would just like to know more about the condition to help your loved ones handle it better, here are the answer to the most common questions when it comes to haemophilia in children. What is Haemophilia? When you get a cut, there are clotting agents in your blood that act quickly to curb the bleeding. However, for haemophilia children, the disease actively stops blood from clotting properly. The result is an excessive loss of blood, which can be very dangerous to the health of haemophilia children. This genetic disorder tends to affect more boys than girls.

Do You Suffer from These Bladder Control Problems in Women?

Do not just live with urinary incontinence – learn what causes it so you can improve bladder control problems in women. If you think that urinary incontinence is a problem that only older women and men deal with, think again. Bladder control problems in women are common, and they affect women of all age groups. Sometimes, there is a clear starting point for bladder control problems in women. You may have just delivered a baby, and are getting back to your active lifestyle, when you suffer through an “accident”. Owing to how embarrassing bladder control problems in women can be, a lot of women never seek help for this treatable condition. Regardless of age, many across the globe are living with bladder control problems in women, and shrouding the condition in secrecy. However, the truth is that more than 13 million people in the United States have incontinence issues. Bladder control problems in women are twice as likely as men. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, 30 percent of young women suffer incontinence. The rates of bladder control problems in women increase with age, with 40 percent of middle-aged women, and 50 percent of older women suffering from urinary incontinence.

You Probably Didn’t Know That Melanoma Symptoms Can Appear Inside This Delicate Body Part

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that generally appears on the surface of your skin. But not always. Known as the most dangerous form of skin cancer, melanomas are responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 people per year in the United States alone. Caused mainly due to exposure to occasional yet intense UV rays, melanoma symptoms are more likely to appear in people who are genetically predisposed to getting this condition. When it comes to skin cancers like melanomas, the common idea that the masses go by is that it is a “skin” cancer, and therefore can only appear on patches of skin that are directly exposed to the sun. However, this is not true when it comes to melanoma symptoms! In general, when skin cells suffer unrepaired DNA damage that triggers genetic mutations, the affected skin cells become cancerous, start to multiply at an exponential pace, and result in the development of malignant cancers. Melanoma symptoms are generally seen in the form of moles. The cancer develops in the melanocytes that are located in the basal epidermal layer of the skin. Where You Might See Melanoma Symptoms According to cancer research, the most common area for men to develop melanoma symptoms is the back/trunk area.