Immunotherapy is an advanced cancer treatment that helps your body’s immune system fight cancer. It’s one of the most promising innovations available today for the treatment and prevention of blood cancers such as multiple myeloma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma.
Cancer specialists at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute are among the leaders developing and advancing this groundbreaking treatment. They work together to ensure you have the best treatment options and outcomes.
How Immunotherapy Works
Your immune system provides protection from illness by detecting bacteria and viruses and producing antibodies that attack and destroy the infected cells. Unfortunately, the immune system doesn’t always recognize cancer cells, which means the cells may escape detection.
Immunotherapy stimulates your immune system to target and eliminate only cancer cells. The treatment is different than chemotherapy, which can eliminate healthy cells along with those that are cancerous. But physicians may offer the treatments together.
In the past, physicians have often turned to immunotherapy only for advanced or difficult-to-treat cancers. In many cases, it extended survival. But researchers are continuing to look at the treatment’s ability to successfully treat all cancer stages.
In many cases, immunotherapy can:
- Improve your immune system’s ability to target and eliminate cancer cells
- Prevent cancer from spreading to other areas of your body
- Provide effective treatment when other efforts fail
- Replace chemotherapy for treatment with minimal or no side effects
- Slow or stop cancer cell growth
Conditions We Treat with Immunotherapy
Researchers are still exploring applications for immunotherapy. But they’ve achieved promising results treating several blood cancer, including:
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia — Fast-growing cancer that produces an excess of immature white blood cells
- Hodgkin lymphoma — Cancer of the lymphatic system
- Multiple myeloma — Cancer that causes abnormal plasma cells to build up in your bone marrow and form tumors, and weaken your bones
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma — Cancer that affects your lymphatic system
Types of Immunotherapy
Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute offers several types of immunotherapy. Some are targeted therapies that help your immune system identify and fight cancer cells. Others concentrate on helping your immune system attack cancer cells.
Treatment may use your own cells or donor cells, as well as antibodies or vaccines. It can be administered by IV therapy, injection or pill, depending on the specifics of your personalized treatment plan.
CAR-T cell therapy
Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR T-cell) is a treatment that uses your own modified T cells — white blood cells that destroy abnormal cells — to help your immune system detect and eliminate cancer cells.
Here’s how CAR T-cell therapy typically works
- We collect your blood and remove the T cells
- Scientists genetically alter the T cells with chimeric antigen receptors to increase their ability to detect cancer cells
- Scientists grow the newly created cells in a laboratory until millions more cells are produced
- You undergo chemotherapy to help protect the new cells when they are introduced to your bloodstream
- Physicians infuse the modified T cells back into your body, where they release toxins that kill cancer cells
- CAR T cells remain in your body long after your infusion process to help fight your cancer if it returns
Checkpoint inhibitors
Checkpoints are proteins made by your immune system that limit the ability of T cells to help your body fight infection and destroy cancer cells. Checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that enable your immune system to attack the cancerous cells.
We give checkpoint inhibitors through a vein. Each treatment typically takes 30 to 60 minutes to complete. The number and timing of your treatments depends on your individual needs.
Checkpoint inhibitors are less toxic and less invasive than conventional chemotherapy. In addition, they require less pretreatment preparation.
Cancer vaccines
Cancer vaccines, which are also called therapeutic vaccines, train your body to protect itself against its own abnormal or damaged cells.
They can:
- Destroy remaining cancer cells left by other treatments
- Prevent cancer from returning
- Prevent your cancer from growing or spreading to other parts of your body
Currently, most cancer vaccines are available only through participation in a clinical trial.
Antibody conjugates
Antibody drug conjugates are targeted immunotherapies that use monoclonal antibodies (engineered proteins that are like immune system antibodies) to deliver cancer-killing agents directly to cancer cells.
Once they’ve been introduced into your bloodstream, the antibodies circulate throughout your blood in search of cancer cells. When they locate cancer cells, the antibodies penetrate and destroy them. This process prevents cancer cells from returning and limits the exposure of healthy cells to toxic medications.
Benefits of Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is one of the most exciting options currently being used to treat cancer. It offers many benefits over chemotherapy, including:
- Better quality of life
- Faster recovery with few or no side effects
- No immune suppression issues
