Cancer is one of the major health issues that humanity has faced for more than several decades. While chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery have been the traditional treatments used for cancer, new breakthroughs have brought out a new trend in cancer treatment: cancer immunotherapy. Cancer immunotherapy treatment in India has been attracting tremendous attention in the war against cancer. This guide is an all-encompassing report on what cancer immunotherapy is, how it works, what types are there, and how it is developed in India with the insight of experts such as Dr. Vikesh Shah, one of the leading oncologists in India.
What is Cancer Immunotherapy?
These are treatments that rely on the immune system of the patient to identify and destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapies are different from other treatments targeting the tumor because they amplify or modify how the immune system may identify and destroy cancer cells. The immune system has several mechanisms that can identify abnormal cells, but sometimes, cancer cells have managed to avoid such defenses. It builds up the attacking capabilities of the immune system to fight out those cells that might not have otherwise been noticed.
A promise of immunotherapy lies in its targeted and precise treatment, attacking only the cancerous cells without damaging the healthy tissue surrounding them. Immunotherapy has gained a place for patients who do not respond well to traditional forms of cancer therapies or the ones that have come back after being subjected to treatment.
How Does Cancer Immunotherapy Work?
Such a system of the immune has been designed to fight infections, viruses, and abnormal cells that cause cancer. Cancer cells, however, are very evasive in getting detected by the immune system. Cancer immunotherapy aims to increase the effort made by the immune system or gives certain components to the immune system, for example, antibodies or cells that can specifically identify cancer cells.
Some of the proteins cancer cells manufacture act as a “brake” which enables to limit the immune system, such as checkpoint proteins. It is known as the “targeting checkpoints”. In short this means that immune system would now be made operational to “perceive” and eliminate the cancer cells which have become one of the “hot areas” of research in immunotherapy of cancer at present moment.
Cancer Immunotherapy: Types
Cancer immunotherapy is the broad spectrum of strategies prepared to target different aspects of the immune system or cancer cells. The most common types of cancer immunotherapy include:
- Checkpoint Inhibitors
Checkpoint inhibitors are the most applied kinds of immunotherapy. Drugs can work either on the side of the cancer cells or immune cells by inhibiting checkpoint proteins. Checkpoints are natural molecules that protect the normal cells from being attacked by the immune cells. However, in some instances, the checkpoints can be hijacked by cancer cells to suppress the immune-mediated killing of these cancer cells. Checkpoint inhibitors will work in inhibiting proteins but allowing the immune system to detect and eliminate cancer cells.
A few of the checkpoint inhibitors are as follows:
- Pembrolizumab, Keytruda
- Nivolumab, Opdivo
- Ipilimumab, Yervoy
These drugs have a very efficient mechanism of action on cancers like melanoma, lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and so on
- Monoclonal Antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are artificial molecules which are mimics of the ability of the immune system to combat pathogens, for example, viruses. It is specifically engineered to bind to surface proteins on the cancer cells and mark the body cells that become cancerous. This antibody marks the cells for destruction or it blocks some of the proteins so that the cancer cells will not be able to proliferate and survive.
Some monoclonal antibodies act directly on certain proteins related to cancer, for example, trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin, which is a treatment for breast cancer, or may even transport chemotherapy or radiation directly to the cancer cells.
- CAR T-Cell Therapy (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy)
Among the most revolutionary types of immunotherapy is CAR T-cell therapy. It does involve removal of T-cells, which are an adaptation of the white blood cells from his or her own body; one then modifies them in the laboratory to ensure that they make a receptor that uniquely identifies cancer cells. Once returned to the body, these engineered T-cells go on an aggressive search for cancer cells and destroy them.
CAR T-cell therapy has shown to be highly effective in the treatment of particular blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, although it has also been studied concerning its potential applications in the case of solid tumors.
- Cytokine Therapy
Cytokines are proteins, and the capacity of such proteins to control an immune response serves as the basis for applying cytokine therapy in immunotherapy for cancers. Synthetic forms of these proteins, like IL-2 or interferon-alpha, have been utilised for this purpose-for example, for a patient whose own immunity will be provoked to attack his cancer. However, even though very effective, the therapy is applied only in the treatment of specific cancers, such as melanoma or kidney cancer. - Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines are a little different from other vaccines because they should only be used as treatment for real cancer, not for prevention. Their objective is to stimulate the immune system to identify cancer cells and kill them. Normally, cancer vaccines are prepared from cancer cells or parts of cancer cells or even some specific antigens related to cancer, which are substances that occur on the surface of cancer cells.
Other vaccines are BCGs, mainly administered for the treatment of bladder cancer. Recently, it is studied in various types of cancers like melanoma, prostate, and lung cancers.
Immunotherapy and Cancer Treatment in India
India is rapidly improving its medical infrastructure and concentrating on cancer care, which has increasingly emerged as a base for the development and administration of cancer immunotherapy. While surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation remain the conventional treatments, immunotherapy has emerged as an integral complement to India’s chemotherapy arsenal.
- Improved Accessibility of Immunotherapy in India
Among the top cancer care centers in India is Tata Memorial Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Apollo Hospitals. Each of them is well-equipped with modern facilities for advanced cancer care. Patients travel not only from other parts of the country but even from abroad.
New and better therapies are demanding among them, which make a difference in the proper evolution of using immunotherapy as the new pathway of cancer care treatment by medical practitioners like Dr. Vikesh Shah. He is known to be on the top for extensive skills in the fields of immunotherapy, and his hard work contributes much toward integration into patient’s treatment planning that suffered under various kinds of cancers even at advanced stages against which normal traditional treatments used against them seem inefficient.
- Research and Clinical Trials
Besides immunotherapy research in India, several clinical trails have been running to increase effort on these treatments. Immunotherapy is constantly researched on subjects conducted through clinical trials carried out in research organizations formed within hospitals everywhere in India. A larger proportion is aimed towards developing ways that will present improved immunotherapies and pinpoint new ways for the human defense mechanism to emerge strong enough and fight this battle.
These clinical trials are mostly carried out by experienced oncologists, such as Dr. Vikesh Shah, in collaboration with the researchers to enhance the results of treatment and present new treatment to the patients.
Dr. Vikesh Shah and Contributions to Cancer Immunotherapy
Dr. Vikesh Shah is one of the standard symbols of persons in the Indian cancer business; it has major dealing in immuno-oncology. He is a person with much experience in the management of the cancer condition among patients and comes out prominently working at the helm in using the potential of immunotherapy to deal with different forms of cancers resistant to conventional therapeutic regimes.
His practice is highly customized in respect to the type of cancer and personalized features of every patient. He has remarkable skills in the use of complex immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-cell therapy. These are new exciting drugs for the treatment of lung cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma among others.
Dr. Vikesh Shah and his team have furthered the boundaries of cancer care by contributing to research in cancer and actively participating in clinical trials. A new hope is being given to patients by Dr. Vikesh Shah and his team by pushing the boundary of cancer care in India through the power of the immune system.
Future of Cancer Immunotherapy in India
The future of cancer immunotherapy in India seems bright. There will be much more research conducted, and the treatment protocols will evolve, which will open up more possibilities to treat a wide variety of cancers. Immunotherapy will probably be a part of the treatment plan for most cancers, not only as a last resort but as the first line of treatment for most cancers.
This is the bedrock of its alliance between Indian healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies with international research institutions: accelerating immunotherapy treatment development. With Dr. Vikesh Shah, this country is destined to stay a viable part of the global quest for making innovative cancer treatments available.
Conclusion
The advancement made in India about cancer immunotherapy treatment means a complete revolution in the care of the cancer patient. Different forms of immunotherapy are now being used in the care and management of patients suffering from cancer, including checkpoint inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, CAR T-cell therapy, cytokine therapy, and cancer vaccines. Experts like Dr. Vikesh Shah are among those who continue to bring hope to many struggling with cancer.
With such research, clinical trials, and expertise from the best oncologists around the world, India is all set to witness further growth in immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer. And so, as the research continues, with time, the prognosis of patients with cancer will improve, signifying a future that no more interprets cancer as an inevitable killer sentence but a condition that can be controlled.