Antibody therapy promises success in treating cancer in many patients. Find out how the treatment works here.
Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy: when it comes to treating malignant tumors, medical professionals can resort to several therapeutic methods. Depending on how far the cancer has progressed and which cancer it is, the treating oncologist will decide which method promises the most success.
If the cancer has spread in the body (doctors speak of metastasis here), surgery is not sufficient. Chemotherapy and / or radiation therapy is recommended to combat the daughter tumors (metastases) . Immune and antibody therapy also play an increasingly important role in cancer therapy.
Antibody and immunotherapy * is often mistakenly regarded as one and the same treatment option. But there are different therapeutic approaches. Immunotherapies aim to circumvent the strategies of cancer cells against the body's own defense. The immune system is trained, so to speak, by immunotherapy to specifically identify cancer cells and to eliminate them. Antibody therapy is the administration of targeted drugs that block the action of messenger substances or typical metabolic processes in tumor cells that cause cancer growth.
Antibody therapy is based on the body's own antibodies, which, as part of the immune system, recognize proteins (antigens) on pathogens, cells and foreign substances and - if they are classified as harmful to the body - fight them. Antibodies can also identify tumor cells - making them the perfect weapon against many types of cancer. So-called monoclonal antibodies have already been approved as a drug, the cancer information service reports. Monoclonal antibodies are artificially produced antibodies, but they work in exactly the same way as natural antibodies - that is, they recognize antigens and can initiate an immune response against potentially dangerous cells.
Also read : Super cells against cancer: This new therapy is to revolutionize tumor therapy .
Braking tumor growth and cutting oxygen supply through antibody therapy
Depending on the structure, therapeutic antibodies can have different effects in the body, for example inhibiting the growth of tumor cells or literally starving the tumor. Due to the targeted mode of action and positive treatment success, the development of new antibody-based drugs is currently one of the most important research areas in cancer medicine . The Helmholtz Zentrum München's research platform Monoclonal Antibodies, for example, produces customized monoclonal antibodies against a wide variety of antigens.
Among other things, doctors can use antibodies in cancer therapy * that prevent the growth and division of tumor cells and thus prevent the spread of the sick cells. The formation of new blood vessels to supply the tumor with oxygen can also prevent monoclonal antibodies. Antibody therapy can even poison the tumor . Monoclonal antibodies are linked to a cell poison or a radioactive substance. Docking on the tumor cell will poison it and perish.
However, antibody therapy also has side effects . The body's own defenses can initiate an immune response to antibody therapy. The fact that healthy cells also carry tumor antigens also jeopardizes the success of the treatment. Because the antibodies should basically only attack the cancer cells and protect healthy tissue.
The information above does not replace advice from a specialist. Only this person can decide which cancer therapy is suitable .
Read more : How a deer antler could revolutionize cancer therapy.
jg
Warning: these four pathogens can cause cancer
To the photo gallery
* merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network .