What are the potential disadvantages of immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy may work in some people and not in others depending upon the design of the immunotherapy, the ability of the immunotherapy to produce an immune response and/or anti-cancer activity, and other components contributing to the disease.
- Some immunotherapy drugs have severe side effects
- High cost
- Possible short-term efficacy
What is the availability of immunotherapy?
Some immunotherapy drugs have been approved by the FDA for use against
specific types of cancer. Immunotherapy is also available through clinical trials
(research studies in people).
Health insurance companies may or may not provide coverage for immunotherapy,
which can be very expensive. Ask your oncologist about immunotherapy for your
diagnosis, or a possible combination it with other cancer therapies.
What is the future of immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy seems to offer great promise as a new tool in cancer
treatment, but it is still very much in its infancy. However,immunotherapies
involving certain cytokines and antibodies have become part of standard cancer
treatment.
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As you can see from
this image, antibodies
are very specific for
their corresponding
antigen.
This makes them
valuable as a tool for
targeting various
antigen receptors on
cancer cells.
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| Image courtesy of: Genomics.energy.gov |
Other types of immunotherapy remain experimental. Although many clinical trials
using new forms of immunotherapy are in progress, an enormous amount of
research remains to be done before the findings can be widely applied.
As researchers continue to learn more about and better understand the immune
system they will be able to:
- Understand other mechanisms involved in cancer growth associated with
immunotherapy, including the relationship between the immune system and
the entire body;
- Better identify the sub-groups of people with certain cancers who are more likely
to benefit from specific immunotherapy;
- Better understand the molecular and cellular characteristics involved as to
why immunotherapy works or does not work in individual people;
- Continue to develop new immunotherapies; and
- Develop new combinations of traditional cancer therapies with
immunotherapy.
According to Lloyd J. Old, MD, Director of the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative
affiliated with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the three key questions
that are critical to developing more effective immune-based treatments include the
following.
- How does the immune system recognize cancer?
- What are the antigens that the immune system targets?
- How can you strengthen the immune response?
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