Immunotherapy Vs Chemotherapy

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death around the world. However, new research has greatly improved cancer treatments. Chemotherapy has been trusted by doctors for many years. Immunotherapy is a newer treatment that is showing good results for some types of cancer and is becoming more available to patients.

Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy: What Are They?

Chemotherapy uses strong medicines to kill cancer cells, and it targets fast-growing cells, including both cancer cells and healthy cells, which can lead to side effects.

Whereas Immunotherapy is a treatment that helps your immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. Instead of directly killing cancer cells, it helps the body’s natural system fight cancer.

What is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses strong medicines to kill cancer cells and stop them from growing. It can also help shrink tumors and reduce pain. Usually, chemotherapy is given as pills or through a drip into your veins. Sometimes it is put directly on the skin for skin cancer. Doctors may give chemotherapy before surgery and radiation to make the tumor smaller, which is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Which Types of Diseases are Treated by Chemotherapy?

‣ Chemotherapy may be used to treat the following cancers such as:

• Breast Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Gastrointestinal Cancer
• Intestinal Cancer
• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Multiple Myeloma
• Sarcoma
• Hodgkin’s Disease
• Brain Cancer

What is Immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a newer treatment that helps your body’s immune system fight cancer. Generally, your immune system can find and kill harmful cells, but sometimes cancer cells hide from it. Immunotherapy uses proteins and other substances to help your immune system find and destroy these cancer cells.

Which Types of Diseases Are Treated by Immunotherapy?

‣ Immunotherapy may be used to treat the following cancers such as:

• Bladder Cancer
• Brain Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Cervical Cancer
• Colorectal Cancer
• Esophageal Cancer
• Head and Neck Cancers
• Kidney Cancer
• Leukemia
• Liver Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Lymphoma
• Melanoma
• Multiple Myeloma
• Ovarian Cancer
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Sarcoma
• Skin Cancer
• Stomach Cancer

Key Difference Between Immunotherapy Vs Chemotherapy

Which one is better, chemotherapy vs immunotherapy? That's the biggest doubt, but both are used to treat cancer, and they work in very different ways; these differences help doctors choose the best treatment for each patient.

Chemotherapy attacks cancer cells. But it also harms other fast-growing healthy cells, like those in your hair, stomach, and bone marrow.

Immunotherapy helps your body’s immune system find and destroy cancer cells. It trains your immune system to fight cancer naturally and doesn’t harm many healthy cells.

‣ Differences between the two are:

• How They Are Given

Chemotherapy is mostly given through IV, but it can also be injected directly into the spine, bladder, tumor, and also taken as pills.

Usually, Immunotherapy is also given through an IV, but some types can be injected into the skin, muscles, bladder, and applied as a cream for skin cancer.

• Types of Drugs

Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA and stopping them from multiplying, including alkylating agents, antimetabolites, antitumor antibiotics, mitotic inhibitors, and topoisomerase inhibitors. These drugs can also harm healthy cells, especially if used for a long time and at high doses.

Immunotherapy drugs help the immune system kill cancer cells, for example, including monoclonal antibodies that target cancer cell proteins, cancer vaccines made from dead cancer cells, immune boosters like interleukins and interferons, T-cell therapy in which your immune cells are taken, improved in a lab, and put back into your body.

• How Long They Work

Chemotherapy works only while you are taking the drugs. Once you stop, the treatment stops working.

Immunotherapy may continue to work even after the treatment ends because it boosts your immune system.

• How Fast They Work

Chemotherapy usually works faster and quickly shrinks tumors. However, Immunotherapy can take longer to show results because your immune system needs time to build.

• What They Target

Chemotherapy targets all fast-growing cells, which is why it causes side effects in healthy tissues. On the other hand, immunotherapy mainly targets cancer cells by building your immune system.

• Side Effects They Cause

Chemotherapy can cause hair loss, nausea, tiredness, and low blood counts because it affects healthy cells, too.

Immunotherapy side effects mostly happen if your immune system becomes too active, which can sometimes cause inflammation and flu-like symptoms.

• Cost

Usually, Immunotherapy is more expensive than chemotherapy, though costs can depend on the type of treatment and how long it lasts.

Combining Immunotherapy Vs Chemotherapy

Chemoimmunotherapy is a new way to treat cancer, which combines two types of treatments: chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Chemotherapy kills cancer cells directly, while immunotherapy helps your body’s immune system fight cancer. Some research has shown that this combination works well for certain cancers like melanoma and lung cancer. Doctors still need to find the best dose, timing, and order for these treatments. This review covers the latest updates and plans for using chemoimmunotherapy to treat cancer patients.

⦿ Immunotherapy

The immune system protects our body from harmful things like germs and cancer cells.

However, cancer cells can hide from the immune system, making it weak and unable to attack. Immunotherapy helps the immune system find and fight cancer. It works in a few ways:

• Boosting the Immune System

Some immunotherapies make the immune system stronger, like checkpoint inhibitors remove the brakes from immune cells so they can attack cancer cells better.

• Targeting Cancer Cells

Some treatments train immune cells to look for and kill cancer cells. CAR-T cell therapy changes a patient’s T cells in a lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells. This can work well for some blood cancers.

• Adding New Immune Tools

Cancer vaccines and monoclonal antibodies support the immune system in different ways. Vaccines help the body recognize cancer cells as dangerous. Monoclonal antibodies attach to cancer cells and help the immune system to destroy them.

⦿ Benefits of Immunotherapy

• Immunotherapy can be tailored to target specific cancers, providing a more personalized treatment.
• Some people stay cancer-free for a long time, even after treatment ends, because their immune system keeps fighting the cancer.
• Compared to chemotherapy and radiation, usually, immunotherapy usually has lower side effects since it mostly targets cancer cells and not healthy ones.

⦿ Challenges of Immunotherapy

• Immunotherapy works really well in some people, but not in everyone. Right now, it helps only certain types of cancer and only some people with those cancers.
• It doesn’t work for all patients and all types of cancers. The results depend on the person and the type of cancer as well.

Side Effects

• Immunotherapy can still cause side effects. Sometimes, the immune system attacks healthy parts of the body and causes inflammation, which can be serious.

Cost

• These treatments can be very expensive, which is why some people may find it hard to afford them, but many healthcare systems are trying to make them easier to access.

⦿ Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses strong medicines to kill cancer cells. The way chemotherapy works depends on the type of cancer you have and how much it has spread.

• Used To Cure Cancer

In some cases, chemotherapy can destroy all the cancer cells so that doctors can’t find them anymore. Sometimes, the cancer doesn’t come back after this, but not always.

• To Control Cancer

If it can not cure the cancer, chemotherapy may help stop it from spreading and slow down its growth.

• To Relieve Symptoms

If the cancer can not be cured and controlled, chemotherapy may help shrink the tumors. This can help ease pain and pressure caused by the tumors, but sometimes the tumors grow back.

⦿ Benefits of Chemotherapy

• It may shrink your cancer and slow its growth, helping you live longer and feel better.
• For some people, chemotherapy can make surgery possible by shrinking the cancer first.
• If you have chemotherapy after surgery, it may help stop the cancer from coming back.
• During chemotherapy, you will have more check-ups and tests. 

⦿ Challenges of Chemotherapy

Nerve Problems

• You may feel numbness and tingling in your fingers and toes. This often gets better after treatment, but sometimes it stays.

Heart Problems

• Some chemotherapy drugs can affect your heart. Doctors may check your heart with tests like an ECG and echocardiogram during treatment.

Lung Problems

• Chemotherapy can sometimes damage your lungs, especially if you smoke, have lung disease, and receive radiation. Also, your doctor may check your lungs with breathing tests if needed.

Conclusion

Immunotherapy vs chemotherapy are two treatments used for cancer in which chemotherapy directly attacks cancer cells, while immunotherapy helps the immune system fight cancer. You should always talk to your oncologist to find the best treatment options for you.

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