Immunotherapy Cost in India

Your immune system consists of organs, antibodies (proteins), and immune cells that work together to fight disease and infection. Immune cells include the following:

• B-cell lymphocytes are white blood cells that create antibodies that combat infections.
• T-cell lymphocytes: T-cell lymphocytes are white blood cells that hunt down and kill sick cells. T-cells also signal the presence of sick or alien cells to other cells.
• Dendritic cells are immune cells that interact with T-cells to trigger an immunological response.
• Neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils are white blood cells that fight infections.

Immunotherapy treats different types of cancers , including but not limited to

• Bladder cancer
• Brain cancer (brain tumor)
• Breast cancer
• Cervical cancer and ovarian cancer
• Colorectal (colon) cancer
• Head and neck cancer
• Kidney cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer
• Leukemia
• Prostate cancer
• Skin cancer
• Lymphoma

Immunotherapy can be given on a daily, weekly, monthly, or cyclical basis. After cyclic immunotherapy, you must rest for a period of time. The break allows your body to regenerate healthy cells. The duration of treatment is determined by the following factors:

• Type and stage of cancer.
• Immunotherapy medication type.
• The way your body reacts to treatment.

Immunotherapy side effects vary based on the type of medicine used and the type of cancer being treated. You might suffer from the following side effects:

• Reactions to infusions
• Diarrhea
• Pain in the bones or muscles
• Fatigue
• Fever and chills are flu-like symptoms
• Headaches
• Appetite loss
• Sores in the mouth
• Rashes on the skin
• Pneumonitis or shortness of breath

Individual characteristics, such as the type of cancer and its stage influence the success rates of any cancer treatment, including immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy is generally successful against a wide range of cancers. While some malignancies are more immunogenic than others, immunotherapy is successful in the treatment of a wide range of cancers in general. Immunotherapy, unlike chemotherapy or radiation, can induce long-lasting responses, but only around a quarter of patients experience them.

According to certain studies, the immune system may recall cancer cells even after treatment has ended.

Cancer immunotherapy holds the promise of long-term cancer control.

Immunotherapy can help the immune system recall cancer cells by "training" it to do so. This "immune memory" could lead to longer-lasting and possibly permanent protection from cancer recurrence.

Long-term overall survival studies have revealed that the positive effects of cancer immunotherapy treatment can be long-lasting—that is, they can last even after treatment is finished.

Dr. William B. Coley (1862-1936), a cancer surgeon, pioneered cancer immunotherapy in the late 1890s. Infecting cancer patients with certain bacteria resulted in tumor reduction and even total remission in some cases, he discovered. Since Coley's time, advances in cancer immunology have revealed that his bacterial toxin therapy boosted patients' immune systems to attack tumors in those who responded to his treatment.

Despite the fact that Coley's theory was mostly ignored during his lifetime, his daughter, Helen Coley Nauts, unearthed his old notebooks and formed the Cancer Study Institute in 1953 to fund research into his theory. The FDA approved the first cancer immunotherapy in 1990, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a bacteria-based tuberculosis vaccine that was found to be helpful for individuals with bladder cancer.

Chemotherapy is a direct attack on cancer cells that divide quickly, but it can also harm other fast dividing cells, such as normal cells. When patients respond positively, the treatment's effects are felt right away. Chemotherapy's immediate effects, on the other hand, only endure as long as the treatment is continued.

Immunotherapy works by stimulating the immune system to produce a stronger response or by teaching the immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells. Immunotherapy may take longer to work, but once it does, the effects might last for a long period.

People with HIV who are getting efficient antiretroviral medication and whose immune systems are functioning normally may respond to cancer immunotherapy, making them eligible for immunotherapy as standard of care or as part of a clinical study.

Immunotherapy treatments may take longer than typical treatments to yield detectable signs of tumor reduction. On scans, tumors may appear to increase before shrinking, although this swelling could be the result of immune cells entering and combating the cancer. Many people who suffer pseudoprogression report feeling better in general.

Immune-related adverse effects may be associated with treatment efficacy in some cancer types—specifically, melanoma patients who develop vitiligo (blotched loss of skin color)—but for the vast majority of patients, no definite link between side effects and immunotherapy effectiveness has been identified.