Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps the immune system fight against cancer. The immune system is made up of white blood cells, organs and tissues of the lymph system. Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy that uses substances made from living organisms to treat cancer. Immunotherapy drugs, though not as widely used as surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy, are used to treat many types of cancer.

What are the types of immunotherapies?

Several types of immunotherapies are used to treat cancer. These include:

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Drugs that block immune checkpoints, allowing the immune cells to respond more strongly to cancer
• T-cell transfer therapy: Boosts the natural ability of the body’s T cells to fight cancer by converting the most active cells in the body to better the cancer cells
• Monoclonal antibodies: Proteins created in the lab that are designed to bind to specific targets on cancer cells, so that they will be better seen and destroyed by the immune system
• Treatment vaccines: Works against cancer by boosting the body’s immune system’s response to cancer cells
• Immune system modulators: Enhances the body’s immune response against cancer

What are the side effects of immunotherapy?

• Skin reactions
• Flu-like symptoms
• Muscle aches
• Shortness of breath (trouble breathing)
• Swelling of legs (oedema)
• Sinus congestion
• Headaches
• Weight gain from retaining fluid
• Diarrhoea
• Hormone changes

How is immunotherapy given?

Different forms of immunotherapy may be given in different ways. These include:

• Intravenous (IV)
• Oral
• Topical
• Intravesical (through the bladder)

Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to treat cancer by targeting the cancer’s specific genes, proteins or the tissue environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival. Targeted therapy is often used in conjunction with chemotherapy and other treatments.

What does targeted therapy target?

To understand how targeted therapy works, one needs to know how specific cancer cells grow. Cells make up every tissue in the body. Each type of cell has a specific function. Cancer starts when certain genes in healthy cells change resulting in a mutation. The genes in the cells tell these cells how to make proteins that keep the cell working. So, if the genes change, these proteins change too. This makes cells divide abnormally or live too long. When this happens, the cells grow out of control and form a tumour. So, drugs are being developed that target these changes. These drugs can block or turn off the signals that tell cancer cells to grow and divide, keep cells from living longer than normal or destroy the cancer cells.

What are the types of targeted therapy

There are several types of targeted therapy:

• Monoclonal antibodies: Block a specific target on the outside of cancer cells and can also send toxic substances directly to cancer cells
• Small-molecule drugs: Block the process that helps cancer cells multiply and spread
• Angiogenesis inhibitors: Keep the tissues around the tumour from making blood vessels which stops the growth of the cancer cells

What are the side effects of targeted therapy?

The most common side effects seen with targeted therapies are:

• Diarrhoea
• Liver problems, such as hepatitis and elevated liver enzymes
• Skin problems
• Problems with blood clotting and wound healing
• High blood pressure
• Gastrointestinal perforation (a rare side effect)