What is Immunotherapy?

Did you know your body’s immune system doesn’t just fight germs? It fights cancer as well—often without the awful side-effects of chemotherapy, radiation and even surgery. Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that harnesses the power of the patient’s immune system to attack cancer.

Detect

Cancer puts up defenses to hide and escape from the body’s immune system; immunotherapy unmasks the cancer for immune recognition

Mobilize

Immunotherapy recruits an army of immune cells that work together to attack the cancer, and trains immune cells with lasting memory to prevent the cancer from coming back

Activate

Immunotherapy eliminates cancer cells by enhancing immune cell activation and function

Traditional Cancer Therapies vs. Immunotherapies

How is Immunotherapy Different?

Traditional cancer therapies

Chemotherapy or radiation kill healthy cells as well as cancer cells

Cancer immunotherapies

Immunotherapy harnesses the immune system to specifically kill cancer cells

Immunotherapy super-charges the body’s natural mechanism for cancer eradication

Immunotherapy can block the way that cancer turns off our immune systems

Safer

precisely targets cancer cells and spares healthy cells, resulting in potentially fewer side effects.

Powerful

Can benefit patients whose cancer has resisted traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation

Long Lasting

Responses can be durable, with the potential to last much longer than the treatment itself

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