Killing an average of more than 1,500 people a day, cancer has been the bane of epidemiology for more than a century. Radiation and chemotherapy, while well received, have been effective in stopping the spread of early-to-mid stage cancer but can be lethal themselves. On the other hand, alternative treatments and therapy have not yet produced the results necessary to gain any major recognition, although cancer immunotherapy is quickly gaining ground. So what is this new vein of treatment, how does it differ from past failures, and is it worthy of contending with today’s go-to cancer treatments?

Breakdown of Cancer Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is the stimulation, support, or other assistance of the immune system to help fight diseases. The old conception of the immune system dictated that it uses its antibodies only to prevent diseases at their onset. Now, as the American Cancer Society has illustrated, the immune system has been revealed to fight diseases well into their development.

After stripping down all of the medical jargon, cancer is basically an uncontrollable propagation of cells. The “problem cells,” which carry DNA errors, don’t follow the usual process of either repairing the error or dying; they multiply, encroaching on other tissues and creating major problems as they spread. In its support of the immune system to stop this spreading, cancer immunotherapy uses immunization, drug therapy, and cellular immunotherapy.

Especially at first, your immune system needs to be “calibrated” to fight cancer cells because it can’t differentiate them from normal cells. This leads to immunological tolerance, which is when the immune system doesn’t react to attacks as it should for a number of reasons. Most of the causes stem from the fact that the immune system’s ability to identify tumor cells is dependent on how distinct they are from normal cells. Since all cancer cells are derived from the body’s own, this can prove difficult. Cancer immunotherapy uses vaccine injections to fix the problem, honing the body’s ability to detect the abnormal activities of cancer cells, subtle as they may seem at first.

Next, cancer immunotherapy uses a form of drug therapy that arms the immune system with antibodies. After the antibodies are added, the immune system uses them to better locate and destroy cancerous tumors.

The final form of cancer immunotherapy involves the activation and refinement of existing cells that the immune system already uses to fight diseases. Using a class of molecules called cytokines, this branch of cancer immunotherapy basically “briefs” the immune system as to who the enemy is, and how to effectively kill it.

After ridding the body of cancerous cells, hopefully permanently, the added benefit of cancer immunotherapy is immunity. Immunity, naturally acquired immunity in this context, is the immune system’s ability to fight disease after being exposed to it. Unlike one-time treatments, surgeries, and drugs, a successful immunotherapy regiment strengthens the immune system, empowering the patient to fight the disease in the future.

Directly Addresses Cancer by Training the Body to Fight Back

From modified diets to musical therapy, new and alternative cancer treatments often fizzle to a quiet end as quickly as they started. Generally, these methods can be classified in one of two categories: pain management or cure attempts. The former may stand for a time, but fail to directly address the cancer, while the latter have just barely started to make some glancing blows. Idealized, cancer immunotherapy is a cure, and is gaining ground. The Cancer Research Institute, a major proponent of immonotherapy since the early 50s, just announced the winners of the 2011 William Coley award for their work in adoptive T cell therapy.

Another leader in cancer immunotherapy, Dendreon Corporation announced in late August that the FDA had approved its newest cancer immunotherapy manufacturing plant in Atlanta. Dendreon’s prime product is PROVENGE, designed to help prostate cancer patients develop immune responses.

A team of research experts led by Dr. Rainer Storb has even incorporated a kind of smaller-scale stem-cell transplant procedure into immunotherapy treatments, opening new avenues for cancer patients who react adversely to harsher treatments. With his “miniature transplants,” Dr. Storb and his team pioneered a procedure that gives patients powerful immune-boosting cells.

With dozens more grants, studies, trials, and new products on the market, cancer immunology has already surpassed most of its counterparts. Having found favor in the likes of the FDA, cancer research centers, and a slew of government initiatives, cancer immunotherapy is only projected to grow as a viable cancer treatment.

Since they formed the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative in 2001, the Cancer Research Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have conducted over 40 clinical trials involving cancer immunotherapy, several of which are currently running. These studies investigate cell cloning, vaccine formulation, and more.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also announced this year that they will be launching the Immunotherapy Clinical Trials Network or CITN. With almost 30 locations in the states as well as Canada, CITN is conducting early-phase trials to investigate, modify, and even synthesize vaccines to streamline treatment for cancer patients. They are also conducting research and workshops to establish a list of the best agents to use for cancer drugs.

While cancer immunotherapy shares the same lofty goal as every other effort for a cure, this particular subset of cancer research has the most promise because it is the least harmful and most realistic method. Cancer immunotherapy directly addresses the problem, not by subjecting the body to harmful treatments in order to kill tumors but by training the body to fight for itself. Also, with so much attention focused on immunotherapy now, researchers are developing serious weaponry for the immune system and will hopefully continue to do so until cancer is more of a brief annoyance than a crafty killer.