Immunotherapy

[TwinniesMum]

Please can one of you lovely ladies tell me - what is immunotherapy?

[Hidden]

Hi TwinniesMum!

I'll preface my admitting that I am not scientifically oriented, so take anything that I type with a grain of salt...but...

My understanding is that immunotherapy (sp?) involves a group of treatments that...activate?...your own immune system to fight the disease, i.e. cancer in this case.

I understand that there is a lot of research and numerous active trials using this approach...In fact I'm pretty certain that there are folks here who have been in some of these trials?

It's certainly an intriguing development...(warning: I'm delving even deeper into things I don't know/understand... )...I think we have, like, the things that address the hormones that our cancers might feed on, and then things that inhibit mechanisms? pathways? ways in which our cancers survive and grow...but the immunotherapy activates our body's own response and amplifies its effort to fight the cancer...

What I really like about this...outside of the obvious fact that it can be another tool in our toolkit...is that I *feel* (vs. think) that it maybe gets at that thing that differentiates cancer from other diseases, i.e. it's not some invader, like a virus or bacterial infection, it's our own freaking cells!!! (How maddening is that, i.e. the *betrayal*!!) and our bodies typically do a pretty good job regulating things, keeping things in check...So it leverages what I *imagine* to be a pretty effective system...

Also, as turn this sh&* over in my mind, struggling to figure out why there's such a disparity in how each of us fares, I think the immune system plays a big role? So if it can be energized/activated to do the thing ***it evolved to do!!!*** it levels the playing field a bit?

As an aside, my current thinking is that my sister, similarly afflicted, and I are doing well is because of our immune systems, genetically shared. Well, we all know that our immune systems weaken with age, and so if I happen to be right about this, my "advantage" will wane...So I am hopeful that there are some drugs on the horizon...or actually in play...that can give me (give us all!) the boost that we need or will need!

BTW, thanks for posting the great question...I had pretty much forgotten about this category/these developments...I'm feeling more optimistic as a result!

p.s. I have a vague memory re: knowing that immunotherapy was more advanced for, like, TNBC? Not sure if this is the case...

Anyway, take care, be well, and keep your immune system happy and strong!

Lynn

[ingaliga2 in reply to Hidden]

I had immunotherapy for a recurrence of breast cancer in a lymph node. I initially had one lymph node near my clavicle that was biopsied and came back the same hormone positive cancer that I had been initially treated for two years earlier. I had undergone chemo (T&C), radiation and then was on arimidex before the recurrence. In 2019 the first lump appeared and my oncologist put me on a regimen of ibrance and faslodex. Less than a year later, the second lymph node was diagnosed with triple negative cancer. Because of this, my oncologist decided to put me back on a chemo/immunotherapy regimen. I received almost 5 months of abraxane and tecentriq. The chemo was every week for 3 weeks and the tecentric was every other week. Fast forward to November/December of last year. The tecentriq caused an autoimmune response in my liver and I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. I became very ill because at the same time I became sick with several infections, including UTIs and c-diff. I have been hospitalized several times since December, with fevers, nausea, vomiting and weakness. Initially they treated me with heavy duty antibiotics which only caused more UTIs and c-diff. At the same time I was being given high doses of prednisone and eventually mycophenalate, an anti-rejection drug, to tamp down my immune system. In May of this year my liver had calmed down enough for me to have a PET scan. My oncologist was so pleased that NO CANCER was evident in my body. I was (and still am) NED. About a week after the scan, though, I went for my first covid shot. That caused the flare up with my liver numbers again and I have been back on prednisone (now tapering off) to get that under control. At least I have not had the infections at the same time. While this has all been very difficult to go through, I am grateful that the tecentriq took care of the cancer. I am sure other things will take care of themselves in their own time. I love my oncologist and have placed my complete trust in him, because he explains everything and listens to my fears, my symptoms. When I am with him I put my daughter on the speaker phone and he will answer her questions and comments. Without his being so up to date on the newest therapies, my outcome may very well have been different.

[Hidden in reply to ingaliga2]

Wow!!! That's amazing! I'm glad the treatment was effective, gives us all hope...But, man, what a mess it was in between! Which I guess is also a good lesson re: short term pain/long term gain! Thanks for sharing...