The immune system can actually fight harmful cells effectively. However, cancer cells have often found ways to hide from the human immune system. This allows a tumor to grow undisturbed. In immunotherapy, special antibodies are used in an attempt to circumvent this escape mechanism of the cancer cells. This makes them visible to the immune system again and makes them vulnerable to attack.
Here you will find further information as well as selected immunotherapy specialists and centers.
Fighting cancer by means of immunotherapy is also known medically as immuno-oncology.
The human immune system is very effective in fighting foreign and harmful cells. As a rule, it also recognizes and fights cancer cells. Under certain circumstances, however, this body's own self-healing mechanism no longer works.
This happens, for example, when tumor cells and their surface characteristics have changed significantly. The immune cells can then no longer recognize them. However, cancer cells can also produce defense molecules that tell the immune system that they are harmless. As a result, they evade the immune system.
In both cases, the immune system no longer reacts to the malignant cancer cells and the tumor can grow.
The task of immunotherapy is to show the immune system which cells it must destroy. The body thus fights the cancer itself.
Immunotherapy enables immune cells to fight malignant cancer cells themselves © Juan Gärtner | AdobeStock
Checkpoint inhibitors are antibodies. They inhibit certain communication signals between a cancer cell and an immune cell. These are usually signals that enable the cancer cell to deactivate immune cells and thus evade the immune response.
The best known of these are the PD-1/PD-L1 system and CTLA-4 as surface molecules. Antibodies that act as PD-1 inhibitors, for example, block the inhibition of immune cells by a tumor. This means that the immune cells remain active and can attack the cancer cells.
Checkpoint inhibitors are currently approved for the following cancers:
However, some approvals are linked to a so-called PD-1-positive status of the patients. This means that patients must show certain surface molecules on the tumor cells. Only then can the immune system respond positively to checkpoint inhibition.
The use of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors is assessed individually for each patient. It also depends on any previous therapies.
In CAR-T cell therapy, T cells are removed from the patient and genetically modified outside the body. The cells are given an artificial T-cell receptor. This makes it possible to bind to very specific tumor cells of the patient and thus trigger an immune reaction. The patient then receives the modified CAR T cells back in the form of a "drug".
These new T cells enable the immune system to recognize and fight the malignant cancer cells.
Cytokines are one of the best-known immunotherapies in oncology. Cytokines are small hormone-like molecules. They are exchanged between immune cells in order to transmit information or control the activity of the cells.
By adding certain cytokines, the immune response to cancer cells, for example, can be strengthened.
One field of research within oncology that is currently being worked on very actively is cancer vaccination. In principle, this works in a very similar way to a flu vaccination. The immune system is prepared preventively to fight certain cells.
In the case of a tumor, antibodies bind to special surface molecules of the tumor. Similar to a beacon, they attract further immune cells, which then destroy the cancer cells.
This type of vaccination has been used successfully for years. The STIKO recommends vaccination against human papillomaviruses (HPV) for boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 17. It prevents infections with tumor-causing HP viruses, which are responsible for, among other things
are responsible.
Immunotherapies, by their very name, have an effect on the human immune system. Effects on a large number of other immune responses cannot be ruled out. The immune response is activated and important control mechanisms are temporarily suspended. The immune system can, for example, overreact and also affect healthy tissue.
Typical symptoms are flu-like symptoms with
However, it can also lead to
occur.
Very rarely, allergic or inflammation-mediated severe side effects also occur. Occasionally they have already led to deaths.
Immuno-oncology offers certain patients an additional treatment option. However, immunotherapy is not a panacea for cancer. Its effectiveness depends very much
already experienced.
Immunotherapies cause fewer side effects than conventional cancer therapies, e.g. radiation or chemotherapy.
Immunotherapies are also generally more specifically effective against cancer than chemotherapies. Chemotherapies always damage healthy cells and tissue.
Immunotherapies are now routinely used at specialized oncology centers and university hospitals. Specialist doctors can monitor the therapies and take over patient care on an outpatient basis.
Due to the wide range of oncological diseases, a wide variety of specialist disciplines are involved. These include
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