There are few cancer treatments that effectively use our immune systems. Cancer is very clever at evading immune recognition and it is difficult for the body to mount an immune response to cancer. Researchers at many institutions continue to work on designing immune-based treatments for cancer in an effort to uncover its vulnerable side.
What is cancer immunotherapy? Cancer immunotherapy is a type of treatment designed to use immune system cells to fight cancer. Immunotherapy can be used alone or in conjunction with other conventional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Conventional treatments have had substantial impact in the war on cancer. Scientists searching to improve on these gains have begun focusing on the immune system for other useful ways to treat cancer. Using the immune system’s cells to fight cancer is mostly experimental. There are a few immune-based therapies that are "standard of care" in the treatment of cancer such as using antibodies to fight breast cancer and lymphoma. Those drugs are called Herceptin(r) and Rituxan(r), respectively.
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