Biological therapy for cancer

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Biologic therapy is a cancer treatment by acting on the immune system to help the body fight malignant cells. Applying cancer biologic therapy may also reduce some of the side effects caused by other cancer treatments.

1. Overview of biological therapy for cancer patients

Cancer biologic therapy is a treatment that uses the body's immune system to destroy cancer cells. Biological therapy is used in the treatment of many types of cancer to stop or slow the growth and prevent the spread of cancer. Biologic therapies for cancer often cause fewer toxic side effects than other cancer treatments.
Types of biologic therapy include immunotherapy (such as cytokines, cancer vaccines and some antibodies) and some targeted therapies. Biological therapy is also known as biological response modifier and BRM (biological response modifier) ​​therapy.

2. How biological therapy works

The goal of cancer biologic therapy is to make the patient's immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells.
The body's immune system fights against invading foreign cells, such as germs. Therefore, the immune system should also recognize cancer cells as abnormal cells, but that is not always the case with the body. Cancer cells can develop the ability to hide, disable, or suppress cells of the immune system.
In general, biological therapies for cancer work by:
Inducing the immune system to attack cancer cells: There are a number of biotherapeutic therapies that can achieve the goal this. For example, chemicals that stimulate a person's immune system cells can be injected into the body. Or a sample of a patient's immune system can be trained in a lab to attack cancer cells before they are introduced into the body. Make it easier for the patient's immune system to recognize cancer cells: Biologic therapies can also target cancer cells, turning on or off cellular signals that cause them to be eliminated by cancer cells. cells of the immune system. For example, immune checkpoint inhibitors target specific chemical receptors on cancer cells, blocking the signals the cancer cells send into the patient's body to block the immune system. immunity.

3. Types of biological therapy

Several types of biological therapy, including:
Cell culture transfer: collecting and using the patient's own immune cells to treat cancer, mainly blood cancer. Angioplasty inhibitors: targeting the blood vessels supplying blood to cancer cells, drugs that inhibit angiogenesis, thereby preventing the growth and shrinking of the cancer. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy: Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) is the name of the vaccine that prevents tuberculosis. However, BCG can also prolong survival as well as prevent cancer recurrence. Chemotherapy: using anticancer drugs – cytotoxic. Chemotherapy can be the main or adjuvant treatment to reduce and prolong the patient's life. Cancer vaccines: are prepared from the patient's own cancer cells, then injected back into the patient to stimulate immunity. CAR - T cell therapy: creates CAR-T cells (mosaic antigen receptor T cells) from the patient's T cells, then reintroduces them into the body to destroy cancer cells. . Cytokine therapy: increases the activity of the immune system Gene therapy: alters gene expression thereby changing the biological characteristics of cells. Immune checkpoint regulation: helps the immune system increase recognition and destroy cancer cells. Immune conjugation: antibodies are conjugated to a second molecule, usually a toxin or radioisotope. The immune part targets certain cell types and the conjugate part kills the targeted cells without harming other cells. Monoclonal antibody: is a therapy that targets the proteins of cancer cells. Tumor-killing virus therapy: using genetically modified viruses to destroy malignant cells. Targeted drug therapy: Attacks specific genes or proteins that help stop the growth and spread of cancer cells. Cancer biologic therapy is a very active area of ​​cancer research. However, many types of biologic therapies are only available in clinical trials.
In a nutshell, biological therapy uses substances that stimulate, inhibit, or attack cancer cells. These substances can occur naturally in the body or they can be made in a laboratory. Biological cancer therapy helps stop the growth or destroys malignant cells. In addition, biologic therapy can reduce some of the side effects caused by other treatments.
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Reference source: mayoclinic.org - cancer.gov