The Types of Cancer that Immunotherapy Can Help Treat
Immunotherapy is an umbrella term for a variety of cancer treatment options. In this video, learn the four types of immunotherapy and what types of cancer each one can treat.
Immunotherapy is a breakthrough cancer treatment that harnesses your own body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells. When doctors talk about immunotherapy as a cancer treatment, they are actually referring to different kinds treatments that fall under the umbrella of immunotherapy, such as antibodies, vaccines, cytokines, and checkpoint inhibitors. Each immunotherapy treatment affects the immune system differently, and each immunotherapy option is FDA-approved to treat only certain kinds of cancer.
Typically doctors use immunotherapy to treat metastatic cancer, which is when the cancer has already spread to other areas of the body. But doctors and researchers are researching how to use immunotherapy in earlier stages of cancer to help prevent cancer from returning in the first place.
- Melissa Wilson, MDDr. Wilson is an assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, focusing on melanoma.
References
American Cancer Society. (2020). Cancer vaccine and their side effects.
American Cancer Society. (2019). How immunotherapy is used to treat cancer.
American Cancer Society. (2022). Immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat cancer.
American Cancer Society. (2022). Monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer.
Cancer Research Institute. (n.d.). Immunotherapy by treatment types.
