Immunology: A Step Forward in Cancer Treatments
Intro
Cancer is a disease that has plagued mankind as early on as 3000 BCE, with manuscripts from ancient Egypt being found to inadvertently describe cancer, citing evidence of tumors during a trauma surgery, as well as following up with a statement that the unknown disease had no treatment. This lack of solution that the ancient Egyptians found is a problem we continue to face today. We still have no guaranteed solution for cancer, although we are much closer in our understanding of cancer as a whole, taking major steps in the direction of an all around effective solution to cancer. One major step in fighting back against cancer has been the use of people’s own immune systems to not only take on and destroy infections but cancer cells as well, a form of medical treatment called immunotherapy.
Why immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy is a treatment that can be applied to most if not all patients, as it requires an immune system that everyone has. The immune system is a system in our bodies that naturally prevents infection and diseases. With its organs and cells in the system, the immune system is able to detect and kill off most pathogenic microbes that attempt to come into our bodies. However, cancer presents a problem as cancer cells have many ways to evade the immune system and prevent their destruction, such as through the use of certain proteins on their surfaces in order to turn off immune cells. Immunotherapy attempts to resolve this issue by using various methods to enhance the immune system’s power and get it to better recognize and destroy cancer cells. Although a relatively new method for fighting cancer, the potential immunotherapy has is huge. If its application on fighting types of cancer with the immune system is to be effective, this treatment would be able to be accessed by most patients.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors
One way immunotherapy works to destroy cancer cells is through immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immune checkpoints are what prevent the immune system from being too strong, as it can lead to possible damage to various organs. However, this subduing of the immune system by checkpoints can mean that the immune system’s cells, the T cells, aren’t able to fight back as effectively against cancer. To get these cells to be more effective in destroying cancer cells, drugs called immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors are introduced into the body. Immune checkpoints are activated when the proteins on the surface of the T cell bind to partner proteins on other cells, which sends a signal to the T cells themselves to stop in their functioning. The introduction of immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors prevents this binding from occurring, as the checkpoint inhibitors are able to block the binding itself between the proteins. Since no off signal is produced as no binding happens, the immune system and its T cells have the ability to be able to more effectively respond and act against cancer cells.
This way of immunotherapy can be quite helpful when successful, and it's proven to be effective as a way of treatment for various cancers like melanoma, bladder cancer, and liver cancer. However, it isn’t always successful, and doesn’t always work on every cancer, such as the case with pancreatic cancer. This is because many cancer cells residing in tumors have their own strategies in dealing with T cells. Mutations that tumors go through can cause them to be able to prevent T cells from penetrating through and performing their function, even when immune checkpoint inhibitors are applied to amplify them. The amplifiers could also be suppressed by tumors that may turn down the signalling of the amplification of T cells, and so the T cells would continue to not respond to cancer cells.
T-cell transfer Therapy
T-cell transfer therapy is a method that changes a person’s T cells in a way to make them more effective in fighting against cancer. This involves growing an abundance of a person’s own T-cells and possibly changing them before giving them back these cells through injecting them back into the person’s body. T-cell transfer therapy involves two main types, called TIL therapy and CAR T-cell therapy.
In TIL therapy, T-cells called tumor infiltrating lymphocytes are tested with tumor cells to see which of them are able to most effectively recognize the tumor cells. Then, that specific lymphocyte is grown in abundance through the use of substances before being injected back into the person’s body. With a large amount of these lymphocytes that are the best in recognizing tumor cells in a person’s body, it essentially allows for tumor cells to be more easily killed by T cells and for T cells to overcome the resistance that tumor cells may put up by trying to send out signals to dampen the immune system’s response.
In CAR T-Cell therapy, T-cells are still grown in abundance, although they are changed to better adapt to fighting against cancer cells. These T-cells are changed to be able to make a protein called chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), which improves their ability to be able to bind to proteins on the surface of cancer cells. In doing so, the T-cells are better able to destroy the cancer cells.
Treatment Vaccines
Cancer treatment vaccines are also another method in immunology. These vaccines are not used to prevent the likelihood of a disease, in this case cancer, in a person, like how the flu vaccine protects against infection and catching of the flu. Rather, they actually strengthen the body in fighting against cancer already present in the body. Cancer cells themselves contain antigens that can be used as a marker in identifying which cells are cancer cells. The vaccines use this fact to aid in the destruction of cancer cells by helping the immune system better identify these antigens. How these vaccines do that are due to what they are made up of, which can be a person’s own tumor cells, antigens or immune cells.
Using a person’s own tumor cells to make up their cancer treatment vaccine can allow for that vaccine to make the immune system fight back with a specific response that’s effective against whatever resistance the cancer cell may put up. The usage of immune cells called dendritic cells make a type of cancer treatment vaccine that stimulates the immune system to better respond to the antigens on cancer cells. These antigens found on cancer cells can also be used to make a treatment vaccine which makes the immune system better respond to cancer cells with that particular antigen, although this way of making cancer treatment vaccines isn’t as further developed as making a treatment vaccine out of tumor cells or dendritic cells.
Conclusion
The various methods of immunology all have their own benefits, and has allowed for the progression towards a concrete solution for cancer to be all the more closer. The potential that immunology will have on cancer treatments is slowly becoming a reality as we deepen our understanding of the immune system and its functions today, through continuous research and experiments.
Works Cited
National Cancer Institute. “What Is Cancer?” National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 11 Oct. 2021, www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer.
American Cancer Society. “Understanding What Cancer Is: Ancient Times to Present.” Www.cancer.org, American Cancer Society, 4 Jan. 2018, www.cancer.org/cancer/understanding-cancer/history-of-cancer/what-is-cancer.html.
“Using Your Own Immune System to Fight Cancer | Stony Brook Cancer Center.” Cancer.stonybrookmedicine.edu, cancer.stonybrookmedicine.edu/diagnosis-treatment/Immunotherapy.
National Cancer Institute. “Immunotherapy to Treat Cancer.” National Cancer Institute, Cancer.gov, 24 Sept. 2019, www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy.
Ph.D, Clayton Boldt. “Why Doesn’t Immunotherapy Work for Everyone?” MD Anderson Cancer Center, 30 Sept. 2020, www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/why-doesnt-immunotherapy-work-for-everyone.h00-159385101.html.
Better Health Channel. “Immune System.” Vic.gov.au, 18 July 2022, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/immune-system.