Biotherapy: Newest Wave of Cancer Treatment

Biotherapy is the newest wave of cancer treatment. It uses drugs aimed at the patient's immune system to help fight cancer throughout the body. Biotherapy is also called biological therapy or immunotherapy and the drugs used are called biological response modifiers.

In contrast to chemotherapy which is directed at the cancer cell, immunotherapy focuses on stimulating the patient's own immune system to fight cancer. Immunotherapy can reach mostcells in the body and is used to treat cancer that has metastasized, or it can be placed in one area of the body to localize the treatment.

Interferons, interleukins, monoclonal antibodies, gene therapy and tumor vaccines are all different types of immunotherapy treatments and while some are still undergoing clinical trials, all are very promising, especially in the hopes of finding a cure for different types of cancer in the future.

Interferons are proteins that boost the immune system to help fight cancer. Interferon stops them from dividing and stops the cells from developing new blood vessels, therefore stopping their growth.

Interleukins are proteins that help coordinate the cells of the immune system to in turn help them distinguish and fight cancer cells.

Monoclonal antibodies target foreign proteins on the cancer cell and are effective in women with breast cancer who have certain cell characteristics.

Gene therapy is a promising therapy that can correct gene mutations in cancer and other non-cancerous conditions. It has had much negative publicity over the years as stem cells were gathered from unborn fetuses or in a more positive light - banked cord blood. Clinical trials are still underway but now that scientists have learned how to make these precious stem cells in the lab, this treatment's future looks brighter than ever.

Tumor vaccines are just as promising as gene therapy and are currently being studied both for treatment, where the vaccine can stimulate the immune system to fight against specific tumors and kill them, or to prevent certain cancers in people who are at high risk for developing them. Merck's HPV vaccine for young girls is a good example as this vaccine can prevent some women from contracting cervical cancer later on.

Immunotherapy can affect a cancer cell in various ways. One of the basic ways that immune therapy works is to increase the body's own response against the cancer cell. Immunotherapy may stimulate the body to increase the production of cytokines (proteins secreted by immune cells) to help fight cancer. (ONS 2006)

Monoclonal antibodies are slightly different. These antibodies are developed to be specifically targeted against some aspect of the cancer cell, such as a receptor on the surface of the cancer cell. (ONS 2006)

Like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, biological therapy has its own set of side effects. While the name immunotherapy might sound benign and more helpful than harmful, it can produce some very serious and potentially lethal side effects. The side effects depend on the specific drug, dose, schedule, and combination of therapy.

Biotherapy side effects can present as flu-like malaise with fevers, chills, muscle aches and fatigue. More serious side effects are liver toxicity, capillary leak syndrome (certain biotherapy drugs can weaken capillary walls and then leak fluids and blood and ultimately cause tissue swelling and difficulty breathing), nerve toxicity, severe loss of appetite and infusion reactions. (ONS 2006)

Source:

The Cancer Basics Course (2006). Oncology Nursing Society (ONS).