Immunotherapy:
The Future Treatment for Cancer
The treatment of cancer is
associated mainly with surgery & various kinds of therapy like
chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, hormone therapy etc. Surgery
is widely used in the removal of tumor. Tissues
surrounding the tumor & the lymph nodes are removed through surgery. Rays
of very high energy are used in radiation therapy. These rays are used to destroy
the cancer cells & also to stop the growth of the cells. The treatment of
cancer with the help of medicines is called chemotherapy. These medicines are
injected into the veins or muscle of the patients. The injected medicine flows
through the blood to the almost every part of the body & damage the cancer
cells. Several types of cancer like prostate cancer or breast cancer rely on
hormones for their growth. As a result, many hormone therapies are recommended
by the physicians so that the cancer cells can’t get the hormone they needed. Biological
therapies are also called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy uses the own immune
system of the body for fighting against infection. Monoclonal antibodies,
interleukin-2, interferon, various kinds of colony stimulating factor like
G-CSF, GM-CSF etc. are used as biological therapy. In a recent study, it has been found that the
immune cells of the healthy individuals may be a very good immune care of
cancer. This treatment can destroy the cancer cells without destroying the
neighbouring cells. The vaccines are designed mainly based on the stimulation
of the defense system of the patient for invading the tumor cells. But, for
achieving an effective treatment, the immune system should react very strongly.
But, this task is very difficult for the immune system of the patient. Instead
of using the patient’s weak immune system, if the vaccines can use the stronger
immune response of a healthy people, then it is possible to treat the cancer
cells more effectively. It hopes us for the eradication of cancer forever.
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