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The aim of cancer immunology is to develop new approaches to fighting cancer by enhancing the body's natural immune defense system. These new immune activating therapies are referred to as immunotherapy or sometimes Biologic Therapy.

Antibodies and the Immune System

The immune system is a network of specialized cells that defend the body against "foreign" invaders (antigens) including bacteria, viruses, and parasites. An important part of the immune system are proteins called antibodies. The immune system makes antibodies to attach to the antigens which are usually found on the surface of cells. The antigens can then be identified and destroyed by antibodies or other cells in the immune system. Antibodies hold promise in the treatment of cancer.

Monoclonal Antibodies


Monoclonal antibodies (MABs or MOABs) work on cancer cells in the same way natural antibodies work, by identifying and binding to the target cells.  They then alert other cells in the immune system to the presence of the cancer cells. MABs are specific for a particular antigen - one designed for a  

B-cell lymphoma will not work on cells for ovarian cancer cells for example.

Vaccines

Vaccines are another method to stimulate an immune response.  One method that has been used to make a cancer vaccine: researchers harvested patients immune cells - such as dendritic cells - from their own blood, primed them to trigger an attack on tumor cells, and then returned them to the patients. The researchers primed the cells by bathing them in a solution containing large quantities of the tumor's unique cell-surface protein.

T-Cell Immunotherapy

T-Cell Immunotherapy is a new and exciting area just going into trials after about ten years of study and research.  This process uses the body's T lymphocytes, multiplying them, possibly modifying them, then reinfusing them into the patient to kill lymphoma or other cancers. 

Hope

Research in this field is ongoing.  Talk to your medical team about the latest advances in this field.  Clinical trials are ongoing in many places and papers are being written documenting advances in the field.

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This page is a work in progress - if you have more complete information, references, or other information please contact the author. The author is not in the medical field and does not warrant the correctness of the material on this page or the sites linked - please take online information and consult with your own medical team to make informed decisions.

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Updated October 29, 2005