Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy, also called biological therapy, biotherapy, or biological response modifier (BRM) therapy, .is a treatment that is designed to stimulate the body’s own natural immune defenses to halt the spread of cancer. Research has found that the immune system is capable of recognizing and eliminating cancer cells under some circumstances. The problem with cancers like mesothelioma is that the body does not recognize these tumor cells as abnormal.

Immunotherapy uses BRMs to improve the body's natural ability to fight disease. BRMs, include interferons, interleukins, tumor necrosis factors, monoclonal antibodies and cancer vaccines. Some BRMs occur naturally in the human body, and others can be produced synthetically in the lab. They appear to alter the relationship that the body has with mesothelioma cells, causing the body to recognize them as hostile. The result is an ‘immune response’ where the body will now attack the mesothelioma cells and suppress the processes that allow the cancer to grow. Immunotherapy is also aimed at blocking the process that mesothelioma uses to change a normal cell into a cancer cell; this may even reverse the process. It is also hoped that BRMs can stop the spread of mesothelioma to other sites in the body, preventing its further growth.

Preliminary studies have shown significant shrinkage of mesothelioma tumors at very early stages of the disease. Much more research, however, is necessary to determine its efficacy as a treatment for malignant mesothelioma. A combined immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic approach has been evaluated in Phase I and Phase II trials in mesothelioma patients but has failed to demonstrate any convincing effect on survival or relapse rate.