The 5 year-survival rates for patients with leukemia has increased 400 percent over the last 50 years. This substantial increase is due to improvements in traditional treatment methods of chemotherapy, radiation and stem cell transplantation, as well as development in the newer fields of immunotherapy, and targeted drug therapy.
In the early 1960s, one in seven leukemia patients survived longer than 5 years. Today, that number is better than 1 in 2 and will probably improve with further advancements in the new treatment methods mentioned above. While most people unaffected by cancer are familiar with the concepts of chemotherapy and radiation, the new fields of immunotherapy, targeted drug therapy and stem cell transplantation are less understood.
Immunotherapy: Also called biological therapy and biotherapy, immunotherapy is a young treatment field that aims to fight off cancer by using natural substances that encourage the body’s own immune system to identify and fight off cancer, or, laboratory made substances (that are similar to our body’s own immune system components) to defend the body against cancer without the help of the patients own immune system. These “natural substances” and “lab made components” are not called drugs or medication. Instead, they are known as Biological Immune Response Modulators (BIRMS), and sometimes referred to as immunomodulators. The main types of BIRMS are interferons, interleukins, monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines and nonspecific nonspecific immunomodulating agents. BIRMs are often geared towards helping white blood cells (which fight off disease and infection), and special cells in our body called antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Antigen-presenting cells help identify unwanted cells and molecules by attaching themselves to them, and then presenting them to white blood cells. When presented, the APCs tell white blood cells that they should destroy any cells that like the one they are attached to.
Read the rest of this entry »