Immunotherapy

IMMUNOTHERAPY

Immunotherapy – •Passive immunization •specific and non specific immunostimulation•Immunotargetting for cancer therapy•Immunosuppression • Immunomodulation

IMMUNOTHERAPY

Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". 

Tow types of immunotherapy:

Activation immunotherapies

Suppression immunotherapies

Activation immunotherapies:

Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response

Suppression immunotherapies:

Immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as  suppression immunotherapies.

• Cell based Immunotherapies are proven to be effective for some cancers. Immune effector cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells (NK Cell), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), etc., work together to defend the body against cancer by targeting abnormal antigens expressed on the surface of the tumor due to mutation.

Passive immunity is the transfer of active humoral immunity in the form of ready-made antibodies, from one individual to another. Passive immunity can occur naturally, when maternal antibodies are transferred to the fetus through the placenta, and can also be induced artificially, when high levels of human (or horse) antibodies specific for apathogen or toxin are transferred to non-immune individuals. Passive immunization is used when there is a high risk of infection and insufficient time for the body to develop its own immune response, or to reduce the symptoms of ongoing or immunosuppressive diseases.

• Naturally acquired passive immunity

• Artificially acquired passive immunity

IMMUNOSTIMULANTS

• Immunostimulants, also known as immunostimulators, are substances (drugs and nutrients) that stimulate the immune system by inducing activation or increasing activity of any of its components.

Example: granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor

SPECIFIC AND NON SPECIFIC IMMUNOSTIMULATION

There are two main categories of immunostimulants:

• Specific immunostimulants 

provide antigenic specificity in immune response, such as vaccines or any antigen.

• Non-specific immunostimulants 

Act irrespective of antigenic specificity to augment immune response of other antigen or stimulate components of the immune system without antigenic specificity, such as adjuvants and non-specific immunostimulators.

Non-specific

• Many endogenous substances are non-specific immunostimulators. For example, female sex hormones are known to stimulate both adaptive and innate immune responses. Some autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus strike women preferentially, and their onset often coincides with puberty. Other hormones appear to regulate the immune system as well, most notably prolactin,growth hormone and vitamin D.

• Some publications point towards the effect of deoxycholic acid (DCA) as an immunostimulant of the unspecific immune system, activating its main actors, the macrophages. According to these publications, a sufficient amount of DCA in the human body corresponds to a good immune reaction of the unspecific immune system.

CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY• Immunotherapy is also sometimes called biologic therapy or biotherapy. It is treatment that

uses certain parts of the immune system to fight diseases such as cancer

• Stimulating your own immune system

• Giving you immune system components

• Cancer immunotherapy is the use of the immune system to reject cancer. The main premise is stimulating the patient's immune system to attack the malignant tumor cells that are responsible for the disease.

TYPES OF IMMUNOTHERAPY• Monoclonal antibodies

a) Naked mAbs 

b) Conjugated mAbs 

i. Radiolabelled

ii. Chemolabeled

iii. immunotoxin

• Cancer vaccines

• Non-specific immune therapies

a) Cytokines

b) interleukin

DIFFERENT MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES METHODS

ALEMTUZUMAB + CD 52 AGAINST MELANOMA

Before After

Cancer immunotherapy:Monoclonal antibodies[2]

AntibodyBrand name

mab type

Type Target Approved treatment(s)

Alemtuzum ab Campath Naked mAB humanized CD52 Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

denileukin diftitox 

(Ontak®)Chemolabeled mAB

humanized CD25 colorectal cancer

Brentuximab vedotin

AdcetrisChemolabeled

mABchimeric CD30ss

Hodgkin lymphoma,Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma

Ibritumomab tiuxetan

ZevalinRadiolabel led

mABmurine CD20

non-Hodgkin lymphoma(with yttrium-90 or indium-111

Antibiotic based drugs

CANCER VACCINES

• Tumor cell vaccines•Antigen vaccines•Dendritic cell vaccines•  DNA vaccines•Vector-based vaccines

VACATION STRATEGIES

IMMUNOMODULATORS• Substances that control the level of

immune response. They are a diverse array of recombinant, synthetic and natural preparations.

• Examples:

• Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)

• Interferons

• Cellular membrane fractions from bacteria

Agent Example

Interleukins IL-2, IL-7, IL-12

Cytokines Interferons, G-CSF, Imiquimod

Chemokines CCL3, CCL26, CXCL7

Othercytosine phosphate-guanosine, oligodeoxynucleotides, glucans