Immunooncology is a modern method of cancer treatment. Its purpose is to activate the body's immune system so that it can fight cancer cells. Thanks to this innovative therapy, a cancer patient, for whom there were few treatment options before, has a chance of a longer life and a good quality of life.
Contents:
- Immunooncology - indications
- Immunooncology - what is it about?
- Immunooncology - advantages
- Cancer immunotherapy - how to ensure the patient's safety
- Immunooncology - is it available in Poland?
- Immunooncology continues to grow
Immunooncology , belonging to the group of immunotherapy, is a modern method of cancer treatment that uses the immune system to fight cancer. Oncology immunotherapy is a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer patients and doctors expect it to become an essential component of cancer therapy in the coming years - along with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapy using monoclonal antibodies. It is worth knowing that immuno-oncology also allows for the development of effective vaccines against various types of cancer.
Immunooncology - indications
Immuno-oncology therapycan be used for many types of cancer. Immuno-oncology therapies are now available for patients with advanced melanoma and prostate cancer in the US, and are being evaluated in many other cancers.
Importantly, for now, immunoncology is used in the treatment of patients whose cancer is already advanced, often with metastases to other organs. The question of whether immuno-oncological therapy can be used immediately after cancer diagnosis remains unanswered.
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Immunooncology - what is it about?
The task of the immune system is to protect the body against foreign bodies that threaten it (e.g. against bacteria). In medical terminology, these types of foreign bodies are called antigens. After they enter the body, the immune system starts producing antibodies - the cells they havethe ability to specifically bind antigens, and thus - their inactivation. This process is called an immune reaction.
In immuno-oncology therapy, drugs are used that mobilize the body's immune system to fight cancer.
Cancer cells are also foreign bodies, but the immune system is not always able to recognize them as harmful to the body, because they can resemble he althy cells. Also, like viruses, they can change (mutate) over the years, thereby avoiding the immune system working.
The goal of immuno-oncology therapy is to activate the immune system so that it can recognize cancer cells (including those that "pretend" to be he althy) and destroy them.
Immunooncology - advantages
Immuno-oncological therapy, compared to other methods of cancer treatment, is safe for the body. During its duration, only cancer cells are attacked. He althy cells are spared or slightly damaged (immuno-oncology is characterized by low toxicity towards organs not affected by the disease).
Current therapies: chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in addition to destroying cancer cells, also cause great havoc in he althy cells and organs of the body. Not to mention the side effects of cytostatics, steroids and radiation treatments. The side effects of immuno-oncology therapy are relatively manageable.
Thanks to immunotherapy, the immune system can remember how it recognizes cancer cells. The body knows how to deal with cancer cells of a given type and can stop any cancer recurrence after treatment (it has a permanent anti-cancer effect). Thanks to this, immuno-oncological therapy creates a chance for long-term survival and a good quality of life for many patients with various advanced neoplastic diseases, for whom the prognosis was very unfavorable.
These patients could return to work and live a he althy and active life for many years. Traditional therapy, although it has been shown to have a promising anti-cancer effect, does not have long-term effects and therefore does not translate into an increase in long-term survival.
Moreover, immuno-oncology can be effective in treating many types of cancer because it works by activating the immune system to fight the cancer as opposed to acting directly on the tumor.
Cancer immunotherapy - how to ensure the patient's safety
Systemic treatment of neoplasms is leadingsome patients develop toxic symptoms. The checkpoint blockers used in modern immunotherapy have a special type of side effect. They result from the "stimulation" of the immune system and autoimmune reactions. They are known as "immune related adverse events (irAE)" and are characterized by non-infectious inflammation of multiple organs.
The most frequently observed disorders include inflammation of the endocrine organs (e.g. thyroid gland), gastrointestinal tract (inflammation of the intestines, liver), skin, neurological and cardiological complications. One of the most serious is interstitial lung inflammation, known as a "checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis (CIP)", which can lead to respiratory failure. Immunological side effects are classified according to the severity of symptoms on a 1-5 scale, in the highest grades they can lead to death.
In most cases, discontinuation of immunotherapy and initiation of glucocorticoid therapy is effective in controlling severe symptoms. Therefore, it is extremely important to recognize them properly. Side effects can occur at any time during immunotherapy, regardless of the type of cancer being treated, and the clinical picture is not specific, it can be difficult to distinguish from infectious inflammation or tumor progression.
The diagnosis of these complications requires the use of appropriate diagnostics, the principles of which have been developed. Patients with symptoms of organ involvement in the course of immunotherapy may seek advice from doctors of various speci alties. Therefore, knowledge on this subject requires special popularization in the community of he althcare professionals, but also patients and their carers.
Immunooncology - is it available in Poland?
The registration process of immuno-oncological therapies is currently underway, which are used in the treatment of patients with such advanced neoplasms as lung, colon, kidney, prostate and other cancers.
Pursuant to the ordinance of the Minister of He alth, immuno-oncological therapy is now available (ie reimbursed by the National He alth Fund) for patients with advanced melanoma, in the second-line treatment (after failure of previous therapies). Immunooncology is used by 17 centers in our country, incl. Provincial Specialist Hospital for them. M. Kopernika in Łódź, Oncology Center - Institute of Maria Skłodowskiej-Curie in Warsaw, the Independent Public He althcare Center, University Hospital in Krakow and the Voivodeship Cancer Center in Gdańsk.
Immunooncology continues to grow
Immunoncology continues to evolve and many questions remain unanswered. OnFor example, why are immune therapies effective in some patients and not effective in others? Can they be used right after cancer diagnosis? How long should I use a specific immunotherapeutic drug? More research is needed, but limited financial resources are a barrier to the development of immuno-oncology in Europe.