Unlike chemotherapy and targeted therapies against cancer, which act directly on cancer cells and their proliferation, immunotherapy stimulates the immune system to help it fight the disease.
Since cancer cells have the ability to camouflage themselves to avoid being recognized as dangerous, the immune system loses its ability to defend itself autonomously. Immunotherapy treatment is very concretely aimed at reactivating T lymphocytes, whose function is to “kill” cancer cells.
What treatment?
The drugs are given intravenously (infusion). The management is done in a day hospital, according to sessions of 30 to 90 minutes of injection, interspersed with rest periods of 2 to 4 weeks. Depending on the cancer, treatment extends from 6 months to several years.
For who ?
There are few contraindications to immunotherapy. All patients are potentially eligible for this treatment. But according to Inserm, it is only effective for 20 to 40% of patients. This is one of the reasons why it is usually combined with chemotherapy.
In cases of autoimmune disease, oncologists remain cautious with the use of immunotherapy. A reflection is open between specialists on the risk benefits of this treatment, which can sometimes be postponed.
Immunotherapy is not effective for all types of cancer
For which cancers?
Immunotherapy does not work for all types of cancers. It obtains the most interesting results for treatment of melanoma (skin cancer)for which it has become the reference therapy.
She is too very effective for certain lymphomas (Hodgkin in particular). And to a more relative extent for lung, ENT (throat), kidney and bladder cancer. On the other hand, it is not conclusive for breast cancer, prostate cancer or even for digestive cancers.
What side effects?
The adverse effects of immunotherapy vary from patient to patient, both in intensity and in duration. It is estimated that 15% of patients will experience severe side effects. The most common are skin disorders (redness, itching, vitiligo…), thyroid and digestive (diarrhea). Respiratory and hepatic disorders are rarer.
Any side effects must be reported: most are indeed reversible when treated early.
TO KNOW
Immunotherapy is a recent technique which continues to progress. Its origins date back to the end of the 19th century in the USA, during experiments involving intratumoral injections of bacteria. In France, the first trials date back to the 1960s and 1970s, in the context of allogeneic bone marrow transplants. Its first application in France with current immunotherapies was only proposed in 2011. But the country is today one of the most active in immunotherapy research, with more than 300 clinical trials listed.