Immunotherapy: What Is It & Who Should Use It?

You’re probably just as stumped as I am when it comes to Immunotherapy. I’m sure you’ve heard of this new cancer treatment, but how does it work and who should use it? I’m going to try to answer both of those questions and give you some links to help you learn more.

In a nutshell, Immunotherapy is a ground breaking cancer treatment that boosts the human immune system to fight off cancer. It uses natural substances formed by the body or in a laboratory to enhance the body’s immune system & ability to defeat cancer. This therapy helps the body stop or slow the growth of cancer cells, stop the formation of new cancer cells, prevent spreading of cancer to other parts of the body and help the immune system work better to fight cancer cells. For some types of cancer, Immunotherapy is effective on its own, but for others it seems to work well in combination with other treatments.

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There are a few different types of Immunotherapy:

• Monoclonal antibodies and tumor-agnostic therapies
• Non-specific immunotherapies
• Oncolytic virus therapy
• T-cell therapy
• Cancer vaccines

I’m definitely not a medical professional, so please check out this article for more specific information on these types of immunotherapy. Also, please make sure to consult your doctor.

Ok, now let’s talk about who should consider Immunotherapy. This treatment is still not as widely used as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. But, it's been approved to treat many different types of cancer in adults and children. You can consult this list to find out more about Immunotherapy treatment options for your specific cancer here:

Adults:

https://www.cancer.gov/publications/pdq/information-summaries/adult-treatment

Children:

https://www.cancer.gov/publications/pdq/information-summaries/pediatric-treatment

There's also lots of clinical trials available and you can find out if you’re eligible for participation here:

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials/search?redirect=true

One of the childhood cancers that's treated by Immunotherapy is Neuroblastoma, which is also one of the causes we honor at Revive Jewelry. A cancer that mainly affects children under five, we raise funds to help kids at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. About 800 new cases of Neuroblastoma are reported in the US every year and many of these people seek out Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) for treatment. It's among the top pediatric hospitals in the nation and they don't refuse any patient regardless of their ability to pay. That's why it's so important to raise funds for CHLA to keep doing the work that will keep our kids strong and healthy. If you’re interested in supporting CHLA through a Revive Jewelry purchase, you can view the collection here.

Immunotherapy could prove to be the future of cancer treatment. There's much more research to be done before that determination can be made, but it's very promising and at least gives us more options for treatment.

This post is intended to be an overview & brief explanation of Immunotherapy. I encourage you to read this great article for a more in depth explanation: https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/immunotherapy/what-is-immunotherapy.html

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