Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body's immune system to fight cancer. It includes monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines, and non-specific immune therapies like cytokines and interleukins. Monoclonal antibodies can be "naked" antibodies or conjugated antibodies attached to chemotherapy drugs, radioisotopes, or toxins to target cancer cells. Cancer vaccines expose the immune system to tumor antigens or DNA to elicit an anti-tumor response. Sipuleucel-T is the first FDA-approved therapeutic cancer vaccine used to treat advanced prostate cancer. While immunotherapy can improve outcomes, it may also cause flu-like side effects or low blood cell counts due to immune system activation against cancer cells.

1. ROLE OF IMMUNOTHERAPY AGAINST
CANCER

2. What is immunotherapy?
• Immunotherapy, also called BIOLOGIC THERAPY or
BIOTHERAPY
• Immunotherapy -the most recent advanced
technique in cancer therapy
• Treatment that uses certain parts of the immune
system to fight diseases such as cancer
• Dr William Coley used Coley's Toxins in the late
1800s as crude immunotherapy with some success

3. Types of immunotherapy
• Monoclonal antibodies
(a) Naked mAbs
(b) Conjugated mAbs
1.Radiolabelled
2.Chemolabeled
3. Immunotoxin
• Cancer vaccines
• Non-specific immune therapies
(a) Cytokines
(b) interleukin

4. Monoclonal antibody therapy
• Monoclonal antibodies that bind only to cancer cell-
specific antigens and induce an immunological
response against the target cancer cell
• Naked mAbs :antibodies that work by themselves
• boost a person’s immune response against cancer cells
• Conjugated mAbs: are those joined to a chemotherapy
drug, radioactive particle, or a toxin
• Radiolabelled: Radiolabeled antibodies have small
radioactive particles attached to them
• Chemolabeled: These mAbs have powerful chemotherapy
(or other) drugs attached to them. They are also known
as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
• Immunotoxins: Immunotoxins are generated by
coupling plant-derived or bacterial toxins to mAbs that
target specific antigens on the surface of cancer cell

5. CANCER VACCINE
• The goal is to help treat
cancer or to help
prevent it from coming
back after outer
treatments

6. TYPES OF CANCER
VACCINES
• Tumor cell
vaccines
• Antigen vaccines
• Dendritic cell
vaccines
• DNA vaccines
• Vector-based
vaccines

7. • Tumor cell vaccines: made from actual cancer cells
that have been removed during surgery
• Antigen vaccines: These vaccines boost the
immune system by using only one antigen rather
than whole tumor cells
• Dendritic cell vaccines: special immune cells in the
body that help the immune system recognize
cancer cells
• DNA vaccines: Vectors can be given bits of DNA
that code for protein antigens

8. VECTOR - BASED VACCINES
• Vectors are special
viruses,bacteria, yeast
cells,or other structures
that can be used to get
antigens or DNA into
the body

9. Sipuleucel-T (Provenge® )
• This is the only vaccine approved in the US to treat
cancer so far
• It’s used to treat advanced prostate cancer that is
no longer being helped by hormone therapy
• For this vaccine, immune system cells are removed
from the patient’s blood and sent to a lab
• There they are exposed to chemicals that turn
them into special immune cells called dendritic
cells
conti..

10. • They are also exposed to a protein called prostatic
acid phosphatase (PAP), which should produce an
immune response against prostate cancer cells
• The dendritic cells are then given back to the
patient by infusion into a vein (IV)
• Back in the body, the dendritic cells help other
immune system cells attack the prostate cancer

11. Mechanism of action of Sipuleucel-T

12. NON-SPECIFIC CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPIES
• Non-specific immunotherapies don’t target cancer cells
specifically
1.Cytokines:Cytokines are chemicals made by some immune
system cells. They are crucial in controlling the growth and
activity of other immune system cells and blood cells in the
body
2. Interleukins:(IL-2) helps immune system cells grow and
divide more quickly. A man-made version of IL-2 is approved
to treat advanced kidney cancer and metastatic melanoma

13. Side Effects of Immunotherapy &
Radiation
• Usually not serious
Fatigue
Hair Loss
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Vomiting
Skin changes
• Potentially serious
Bleeding
Low blood cell counts
Infection

14. Immunotherapy-A Revolution against
cancer
• The promise of
immunotherapy is a
cure for cancer without
the serious side effect
of Chemotherapy,
radiation therapy and
surgery

15. Reference
• Recent Advances and Current Challenges inTumor
Immunology and Immunotherapy
• Google images.
• Text books:
• The biology of Cancer:R.A Weinberg ,2nd Edition.
• Kuby Immunology, 8th Edition.
• Ivan roitt Essential Immunology, 12th Edition.
• Thao Doan,Roger Melvold,Lippincott’s illustrated
reviews of Immunology, 2nd Edition.

16. Thank You!