Biologic therapy or immunotherapy can been shown to be an effective treatment for certain cancers. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the immune system, which is the body’s natural defense mechanism, is an important element in the body’s response to cancer. Some forms of cancer develop when the immune system is not able to destroy the cancerous cells or inhibit their growth. The biologic therapies use this knowledge of the immune system to fight the cancer or reduce the side effects of the cancer treatments by using the immune system accordingly.
The immunotherapy can work in a couple of ways such as interfering with the growth of the cancer cells, indirectly helping the healthy immune cells to control the cancer, repairing normal cells that were damaged by the cancer treatment.
Several types of biologic therapy can be used and more than one can be used at once. Also, immunotherapy can be combined with chemotherapy or radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer.
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