Immunotherapy vs. Chemotherapy: How Both Are Different?

Immunotherapy vs Chemotherapy: There happens to be a key distinction between immunotherapy and chemotherapy in their approach towards treating cancer.

Chemotherapy employs drugs designed to target and eliminate rapidly dividing cancer cells throughout the body. It functions by interfering with the cell division process or damaging the cells' DNA to inhibit their growth.

In contrast, immunotherapy works by leveraging the body's immune system to combat cancer.

It stimulates the immune response to recognize, attack, and destroy cancerous cells or prevent their growth and spread. Rather than directly attacking cancer cells like chemotherapy, immunotherapy boosts the body's natural defenses to combat the disease.

 

What Is Immunotherapy?

immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment leveraging the body's immune system to combat various diseases, including aggressive cancers like mesothelioma.

Initially available primarily through clinical trials, immunotherapy has increasingly become more accessible to patients in recent years.

Certain immunotherapy drugs have gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after demonstrating positive outcomes in testing.

This treatment approach has exhibited success in targeting tumor growth and managing symptoms across various cancer types, including mesothelioma, skin cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and others.

Notably, in October 2020, the FDA approved the combination immunotherapy of Opdivo and Yervoy as a treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma.

This approval marked a significant milestone in providing a more diverse range of treatment options for this challenging cancer.

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How Does Immunotherapy Work?

Immunotherapy basically serves to educate and enhance the body's immune system to recognize and combat cancer cells.

By stimulating the immune response, this treatment aims to slow down, halt the progression, or eradicate tumor cells.

Immunotherapy is often employed in combination with traditional cancer treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

This approach is known as combination therapy or multimodal therapy.

Combining immunotherapy with conventional treatments can sometimes yield more effective outcomes, as each treatment modality targets cancer in different ways.

The synergy between these treatments may enhance their overall effectiveness in fighting cancer and improving patient outcomes.

In cases where standard treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy may not be yielding the desired results for certain cancers such as mesothelioma, immunotherapy could be considered as an alternative treatment option.

Immunotherapy's mechanism of action, which involves stimulating the immune system to target cancer cells, offers a different approach that might benefit patients who haven't responded well to conventional treatments.

In such scenarios, healthcare providers might explore immunotherapy as a potential option to manage the disease and improve the patient's condition.

Types of Immunotherapy Practiced

Immunotherapy encompasses various approaches classified broadly as passive or active.

Active immunotherapies work by priming the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, often generating immune memory. This immune memory can be beneficial as it enables the immune system to remember the cancer cells it has previously encountered, potentially allowing it to continue recognizing and combating those cells even after the treatment has concluded. This aspect of active immunotherapy can offer long-term protection or surveillance against the return of cancer.

Passive immunotherapies involve providing the body with external proteins, such as antibodies or other immune system components, to directly target and eliminate cancer cells. However, passive therapies generally do not instigate immune memory. As a result, once the treatment ceases, the body may not sustain its ability to recognize and fight the cancer cells independently. This lack of immune memory could mean that the body may not continue to actively combat the cancer once the passive therapy has ended.

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What Is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy involves the administration of medications specifically designed to target and eliminate cancer cells.

These drugs work by disrupting the growth and division of rapidly dividing cancer cells. As they are toxic to cancer cells, chemotherapy treatment aims to slow down the progression of cancer, shrink tumors, and alleviate cancer-related symptoms.

There's a wide array of chemotherapy drugs available, and they can be utilized as standalone treatments or combined with other therapeutic options, a practice referred to as multimodal treatment.

This combination approach often includes surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, or other treatments tailored to the patient's specific needs.

In the case of pleural mesothelioma, chemotherapy stands as a standard treatment option. Furthermore, ongoing clinical trials are exploring the effectiveness of combining chemotherapy with various other cancer treatments, such as immunotherapy, in the pursuit of enhancing treatment outcomes for patients with mesothelioma and other cancers.

These trials aim to determine the potential benefits and synergistic effects of combining different treatment modalities to improve patient responses to therapy.

 

How Does Chemotherapy Work?

Chemotherapy simply works by damaging the DNA or interfering with the cell division process of both cancerous and healthy cells.

While both types of cells are affected, cancer cells tend to be more susceptible to this damage due to their rapid division and growth rate.

Consequently, chemotherapy can effectively target and eliminate cancer cells more efficiently than healthy cells.

 

There are two primary types of chemotherapy administration:

Systemic Chemotherapy: This form is administered through injection (intravenous) or in pill form. It circulates throughout the bloodstream, allowing it to reach cancer cells in various parts of the body. Due to its broader reach, systemic chemotherapy affects more cells, leading to a higher likelihood of side effects.

Intracavitary Chemotherapy: This type involves applying chemotherapy directly to tumor formations, often during surgery. Examples include intrapleural chemotherapy and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) used for peritoneal mesothelioma. By targeting the affected area more directly, intracavitary chemotherapy may result in fewer systemic side effects compared to systemic chemotherapy.

While chemotherapy effectively fights cancer cells, it can also impact healthy cells, leading to a range of side effects such as hair loss and nausea.

The severity and type of side effects vary from person to person and depend on the specific chemotherapy drugs used and individual health factors.

Supportive care and medications are often prescribed to manage these side effects and improve the patient's quality of life during treatment.

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Immunotherapy Vs Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy has indeed been a cornerstone in cancer treatment for many years, with a well-established history of use. It works by targeting rapidly dividing cells, which includes cancer cells, to slow down or eradicate their growth.

In contrast, immunotherapy is a newer approach that harnesses the body's immune system to identify and attack cancer cells. While it's not as widely adopted as chemotherapy, recent successes in clinical trials and FDA approvals for various types of cancers indicate promising potential for immunotherapy to become a more prominent treatment option.

The recent FDA approvals for immunotherapy in treating certain cancers mark significant advancements in its acceptance as a viable and effective treatment method. These successes and ongoing research in immunotherapy highlight its potential to be adopted as a first-line treatment, offering new hope and options for cancer patients. As more clinical data emerges and research progresses, the integration and use of immunotherapy in cancer treatment are expected to continue evolving and expanding.

 

Is Immunotherapy More Effective Than Chemotherapy?

Its variability based on individual factors and cancer type. In cases like malignant pleural mesothelioma, which is known for its aggressiveness and limited life expectancy, treatment plans often involve a combination of surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy, known as multimodal therapy.

However, the emergence of immunotherapy has provided a new avenue for treatment. In some instances, immunotherapy, with drugs like Keytruda®️, has shown promising results in extending life expectancy for certain mesothelioma patients in clinical trials.

The efficacy of different treatment methods depends on various influencing factors, including the cancer's type, stage, and the patient's overall health.

Determining the most effective treatment plan for a cancer patient involves a comprehensive evaluation by medical professionals.

They gather the patient's health history, conduct relevant tests, and assess various factors to tailor a treatment plan that can effectively slow or halt cancer growth while addressing associated symptoms.

This personalized approach accounts for the unique characteristics of each patient's cancer and health status, optimizing the chances of a more effective and suitable treatment strategy.

Consulting with healthcare professionals is pivotal in making informed decisions regarding the most suitable course of treatment for an individual patient.

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