Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world and its incidence continues to grow, but so does survival. Early detection and the research and application of so-called biological therapies are contributing to lower cancer mortality.
Behind the word CancerIn addition, we found a large number of variants that can affect any part of the body. What they have in common is that develops by cell mutation accompanied by very rapid multiplication which facilitates spread in a process known as "metastasis".
In front of these cells, the immune system does not workThe cancer cells produce signals that prevent the immune system from detecting them, or because these cells have modifications that prevent the immune system from recognising and attacking them.
Cancer and Immunotherapy
In contrast to conventional oncology therapies that focus on tumour destruction, some of the most common therapies for cancer are techniques that fall under the heading of biological therapies act precisely on the immune system. to facilitate the natural detection of cancer cells and help the body's own fight against the disease. This is the fundamental principle underlying the Immunotherapy and "biological response modifying therapies". and which also apply for ro reduce the side effects of radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
The name of biological therapy derives from the origin of the substances used in the treatments: living organisms or laboratory-produced versions of the living organisms used to combat the disease. Such therapies are used in addition to conventional treatments. Only autologous immunogenic immunotherapy additionally generates memory lymphocytes, which reduces the percentage of memory lymphocytes by a very high percentage the possibility of recurrence as they promote biological "memory" in the patient's body, allowing him or her to if such cells ever reappear, they are immediately destroyed even if they are those that have "escaped" the toxicity of the chemotherapy.
Types of biological therapies
The NHS National Cancer Institute (US National Health System) describes some types of biological therapies, depending on the substance used, that are approved in the US:
- monoclonal antibody therapy for non-Hodking's lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
- cytokine therapy: activates some white blood cells and is approved for melanoma, Kaposi's sarcoma and several haematological cancers.
- cancer treatment vaccines, designed to target various types of cancer or a specific antigen.
- Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy: effective treatment in patients with early bladder cancer.
- oncolytic viral therapy
- gene therapy: attempts to introduce genetic material into living cells. Although experimental, it is being investigated for many types of tumours.
- adoptive T lymphocyte transfer therapy: this therapy attempts to grow in the laboratory the cells that have the most anti-tumour activity.
At Biosaludwe carry out complementary therapies to cancer treatment that sought to reduce the negative effects of conventional therapies, while enhancing their effects.. The development of an Immunotherapy technique based on the creation of personalised vaccines programmed in a molecular laboratory from autologous dendritic cell exosomestransformed from the patient's own mononuclear cells, could fight their specific cancer. This is what we call, at Biosalud Day Hospital, Immunogenic Immunotherapy, a technique that we have discovered and which could be complementary to the treatment prescribed by the oncologist.
