What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. Immunotherapy can be used to treat a wide variety of cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer.

There are different types of immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, and CAR T-cell therapy. Monoclonal antibodies are man-made proteins that mimic the antibodies our bodies naturally produce to fight infection. Checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that block proteins that keep the immune system from attacking cancer cells. CAR T-cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that uses genetically engineered T cells to kill cancer cells.