Immunotherapy is a form of treatment which uses the body’s immune system to fight against disease, for example attacking cancer cells by activating, improving or suppressing an immune response. Utilising immunotherapy as a form of cancer treatment is also known as immuno-oncology.
Immuno-oncology artificially activates and stimulates the body’s own immune system to targets cancer cells. Cancer cells generally mutate or disguise themselves as “normal” cells within our bodies therefore rendering our own immune system response ineffective as our bodies do not recognise the cells as cancer cells. However, by using therapies such as immuno-oncology, our own immune system is improved and activated to naturally and effectively fight cancer.
Clinical trials (according to the European Cancer Patient Coalition) suggest that immuno-oncology therapies’ effectiveness on cancer cells may last for a prolonged period of time, whereby the body’s own immune system is trained to continue to fight against cancer cells post remission.