It appears that great strides are being made in research to use our own Immune Systems to fight cancer.
Could this possibly mean that in the future, chemotherapy, as we know it today, would be gone?
The following are excerpts from different articles on ‘fighting cancer using our own immune systems’.
Inside your body there is an amazing protection mechanism called the immune system. It is designed to defend you against millions of bacteria, microbes, viruses, toxins and parasites that would love to invade your body. To understand the power of the immune system, all that you have to do is look at what happens to anything once it dies. That sounds gross, but it does show you something very important about your immune system. Read more….
The immune system is a complex network of cells and organs that work together to defend the body against attacks by “foreign” or “non-self” invaders. This network is one of the body’s main defenses against infection and disease. The immune system works against diseases, including cancer, in a variety of ways. For example, the immune system may recognize the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells in the body and works to eliminate cancerous cells. However, the immune system does not always recognize cancer cells as “foreign.” Also, cancer may develop when the immune system breaks down or does not function adequately. Biological therapies are designed to repair, stimulate, or enhance the immune system’s responses. Read more…..
Cancer immunotherapy is the technique of harnessing the body’s immune system to attack cancer. The immune system normally responds to threats to the body by distinguishing between itself and foreign invaders. In case of cancer, this is difficult because most tumours consist of the body’s own cells growing out of control. However, many cancer cells display unusual antigens or receptors on their surface that allows them to be identified. Antibodies and cancer vaccines to stimulate the immune system are being developed to attack these tumour cells. Read more ….
Immunotherapy, also known as biological therapy, biotherapy or biological response modifier therapy, is a relatively new addition to the family of cancer treatments. This type of treatment uses the body’s immune system, directly or indirectly, to fight the disease. Immunotherapy is being designed to stimulate the patient’s immune system to work harder or smarter and to enhance the immune system response by administering immune system components such as man-made proteins. The basic idea of cancer immunotherapy is to try to get the immune system to react to cancer cells as if they are foreign. Read more ….
Biological response modifiers (BRMs) occur naturally in the body and can be produced in the laboratory. BRMs alter the interaction between the body’s immune defenses and cancer cells to boost, direct, or restore the body’s ability to fight the disease (see Question 3). Read more ….
The big news now is that J591, and compounds like it, could someday offer cancer patients a brand new weapon as they fight the disease. But Dr. Bander?s team doesn’t expect that cancer patients would rely on PSMA-targeted therapies alone. Read more ….
Researchers have found that interferons can improve the way a cancer patient’s immune system acts against cancer cells. In addition, interferons may act directly on cancer cells by slowing their growth or promoting their development into cells with more normal behavior. Researchers believe that some interferons may also stimulate NK cells, T cells, and macrophages, boosting the immune system’s anticancer function. Read more ….
Some antibodies, cytokines, and other immune system substances can be produced in the laboratory for use in cancer treatment. These substances are often called biological response modifiers (BRMs). They alter the interaction between the body’s immune defenses and cancer cells to boost, direct, or restore the body’s ability to fight the disease. BRMs include interferons, interleukins, colony-stimulating factors, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines. Read more ….
It appears that down the road, cancer may be fought on an entirely different level. This will be wonderful for future cancer and bladder cancer patients.
Patient, heal thyself.
Posted on July 30th, 2008 by Neil
Filed under: My Cancer, Research
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