Immunotherapy
Allergen Immunotherapy is the only treatment which modulates the disease progression in allergic conditions and leads to a long lasting disease free period for several years. Conditions like allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis, insect venom allergy is best treated with immunotherapy if the triggering factor is an allergen present in the patient’s environment. Allergen immunotherapy has been shown to induce immune tolerance by modulating T regulatory cells which causes suppression of allergic inflammation in the target organs. Allergen immunotherapy is a long process of 3-5 years which consists of subcutaneous injections at regular intervals or sublingual drops. The clinically discernable improvement begins after around third month and continues throughout the treatment period and beyond. Newer advances in allergen immunotherapy helps to refine the treatment paradigms
Types of immunotherapy
Several types of immunotherapy are used to treat cancer. These include:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors, which are drugs that block immune checkpoints. These checkpoints are a normal part of the immune system and keep immune responses from being too strong. By blocking them, these drugs allow immune cells to respond more strongly to cancer.
- T-cell transfer therapy, which is a treatment that boosts the natural ability of your T cells to fight cancer. In this treatment, immune cells are taken from your tumor. Those that are most active against your cancer are selected or changed in the lab to better attack your cancer cells, grown in large batches, and put back into your body through a needle in a vein.
T-cell transfer therapy may also be called adoptive cell therapy, adoptive immunotherapy, or immune cell therapy.
- Monoclonal antibodies, which are immune system proteins created in the lab that are designed to bind to specific targets on cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies mark cancer cells so that they will be better seen and destroyed by the immune system. Such monoclonal antibodies are a type of immunotherapy. Monoclonal antibodies may also be called therapeutic antibodies.
- Treatment vaccines, which work against cancer by boosting your immune system’s response to cancer cells. Treatment vaccines are different from the ones that help prevent disease.
- Immune system modulators, which enhance the body’s immune response against cancer. Some of these agents affect specific parts of the immune system, whereas others affect the immune system in a more general way.
