New therapy for cancer treatment

Treatment of cancer based on the patient's own immune system has become a hope for millions of people worldwide.

Mr. Steve Cara (53 years old), diagnosed with late stage lung cancer 2 years ago. The doctor said the cancer cells had spread and the tumor removal procedure could not be carried out. But the drug called "control point inhibitor" helped Mr. Cara get better.

The doctor treating Mr. Cara, Dr. Matthew D. Hellmann, proposed a new experimental treatment: immunity . Instead of attacking direct cancers like chemotherapy, immunotherapy tries to gather the patient's immune system to fight disease.

Mr. S.Cara at Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center.

The human body's immune system is a network of cells, tissues and biochemicals secreted to protect the body against viruses, bacteria and other invaders. This therapy will try to help the immune system recognize cancer as a threat, and attack it directly instead of hiding.

Researchers are currently focusing on two types of immunotherapy .

One is to treat each patient by removing some human immune cells, changing genes to destroy cancer and then passing them back into the bloodstream. This type of treatment has been effective in several hundred children, adults with leukemia or lymphoma have ever failed to treat traditional methods.

The second approach has been more widely used, involving mass-produced drugs without being tailored to each patient.

These drugs, known as checkpoint inhibitors , have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced melanoma, lymphoma, lung, kidney and bladder cancer. optical. Many drugs in this group are being studied and prepared.

Steve Cara.Diagnosis: Stage 4 lung cancer. Treatment with Opdivo and Yervoy drugs for two months, starting in December 2014, then only using Opdivo for eight months, after lung surgery.Side effects: rash, fatigue, pneumonia.Current status: Active and without signs of cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitors have become an important option for people with lung cancer like Mr. Cara.

"With all the honesty of a doctor, I can say that we cannot cure metastatic lung cancer right now but we can give many patients the real hope that they can live for many years, "said Dr. John V. Heymach, a lung cancer specialist.

However, immunotherapy has only been tested in a small number of patients, researchers are trying day by day to find a plan. They know what they have learned to play an important role in the treatment of cancer but cannot yet offer a common and thorough treatment.