Immunotherapy: The Future of Treating Cancer

Earlier this year, former Facebook President and billionaire Sean Parker released a bold plan for treating cancer. His idea involved combining the academic strength of the most promising institutions in the United States to actively research in the field of immunotherapy. These powerhouse institutions include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, UCLA, UCSF, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Pennsylvania. Together, with over 300 researchers and billions of dollars in funding, they report several centers around the country, called Parker Institutes for Immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy is defined as the treatment of diseases with substances that stimulate an immune response. But aside from the simple definition, immunotherapy holds massive potential.

Let's discuss the most common immunotherapies:

Monoclonal Antibodies: Monoclonal antibodies are Y shaped proteins that have the potential to bind to extracellular binding sites on cancer cells. Thus, they hold massive potential for selectively targeting cancerous cells.

Oncolytic Virus Therapy: This is a relatively new therapy that utilizes genetically modified viruses that undergo the lytic cycle in cancer cells. After the cell bursts, antigens are created for the specific cancer types, allowing for the immune system to detect the cancer cells, and destroy them.

T-Cell Therapy: This therapy involves the extraction of T-Cells from the patients body. The T-Cells are then manipulated to recognize cancer cell receptors. The T-Cells are then cultured and then inserted back into the patients body. The trained T-Cells then perform their job of recognizing cancer cells in the body, and the immune system can then destroy them.

Immuotherapy holds massive significance in the 21st century. As ground breaking research continues, immunotherapy remains to be at the very forefront of it. In the next 30 years, we may see novel therapies emerging, that could change the way we attack cancer forever.

Works Cited:

1. http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/immunotherapy-and-vaccines/understanding-immunotherapy

2. http://parker.org/initiatives/parker-ici

3. http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy

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