Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy or cancer immunotherapy refers to using drugs which indirectly stimulate the immune system to treat cancer.

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors
  • Most commonly used immunotherapy
  • These drugs are monoclonal antibodies and therefore also technically biological drugs
  • These drugs inhibit the mechanism by which cancer cells inhibit the immune system
  • Anti-PD-1 – nivolumab, pembrolizumab
  • Anti-CTLA-4 – ipilimumab
• Vaccines
• Cytokines

Because of their mechanism, they can cause a variety of severe and potentially life-threatening side effects secondary to overactivation of the immune system. The most notable are hepatitis, myocarditis, myasthenia gravis, and virtually any kind of -itis.