2 New & Emerging Cancer Treatments You Should Learn About
If you or a loved one has cancer, you’ll want to know about these two new, emerging treatments. Learn about how they work and what to expect.
Interventional Radiology Procedures & Immunotherapy
Cancer treatments have come a long way in the past few years, and many treatments now exist that can effectively treat most cancers. Researchers continue to develop more targeted and personalized methods for each individual patient. In this blog post, we’ll look at two novel cancer treatments—interventional radiology procedures and immunotherapy—and highlight some examples of each. We’ll also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each treatment option, so that you can make an informed decision about which treatment is right for you or your loved one.
Interventional Radiology (IR) Procedures
IR physicians use imaging along with minimally invasive techniques to diagnose and treat cancer. IR techniques allow doctors to deliver cancer-killing radioactive particles, chemotherapy, heat, cold, or electricity directly to tumors. To guide these procedures, IR physicians use imaging techniques such as computed tomography, ultrasound, positron emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Doctors typically use IR procedures to treat cancers of the lung, liver, kidney, and bone. More recently, doctors have started to use IR procedures to treat head and neck cancer, and its role in this context continues to expand. IR procedures pose minimal risk to patients. In addition, most patients can return home the day of the procedure. These procedures also don’t require incisions or general anesthesia.
Thermal Ablation
A doctor places a needle into the tumor, which delivers heat or cold to destroy cancer cells. Patients may choose ablation if they cannot undergo surgery and have isolated tumors. When used in the bones, ablation can also relieve pain or control metastatic disease (cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body).
Doctors most commonly use ablation to treat cancers of the lung, liver, and kidney. However, they may use ablation to treat other cancers depending on their accessibility and size. Doctors may also recommend ablation as an alternative to surgery in some patients with thyroid nodules. Ablation also has the potential to activate immune cells to attack cancer cells.
Embolization
A doctor injects synthetic microscopic polyacrylamide beads coated with gelatin into the blood vessels that feed the tumor. The doctor may use these beads to cut off the blood vessels to suffocate and kill the cancer, or they may use them prior to surgery so that they can remove the tumor without significant blood loss. The IR physician may also fill the beads with radioactive or chemical particles that help shrink or destroy the cancer. Doctors may recommend embolization to treat some types of liver/kidney cancers, neuroendocrine tumors, and head and neck cancers.
Irreversible Electroporation (IRE)
IRE applies small amounts of electricity to destroy cancer cells. The electricity produces holes in the cell membranes that destroy the cells without damaging nearby healthy tissues. This technique is useful in treating tumors near blood vessels or other sensitive structures vulnerable to thermal ablation. Currently, IRE is mostly used to treat solid tumors, such as liver, pancreatic and prostate cancers. However, IRE has the potential to serve as a viable treatment option in select cases of recurring head and neck tumors.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy uses the immune system to attack cancer cells. Drugs that boost the immune system can shrink or even destroy tumors in patients with advanced cancer. In some patients, these treatment responses can last for years. Immunotherapies exist for several cancers, such as melanoma, lung cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and lymphoma. Immunotherapy also provides exciting new treatment options for head and neck cancer patients, especially those with HPV-related cancers.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment
Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment uses checkpoint inhibitors, or drugs that increase the activity of the immune system. This allows immune cells (called T-cells) to recognize and attack tumors. ICIs can treat many types of cancer, including melanoma, lung cancer and lymphoma. ICIs such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab have also led to improvements in outcomes for patients with advanced/metastatic head and neck cancer.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy involves genetically engineering a patient’s own T-cells to produce novel proteins, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), on their surface. These CARs recognize and bind to specific proteins, or antigens, on the surfaces of cancer cells.
Although CAR T-cell therapy can eradicate advanced lymphomas and leukemias and control cancer for many years, it is more expensive than other treatments. Further research is also necessary to increase the treatment’s long-term survival rates. While the development of CAR T-cell therapies for head and neck cancer has been challenging, recent studies have demonstrated the safety and potential effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapy as a treatment for head and neck cancer.
Cancer Vaccines
Just as conventional vaccines train your body to defend itself against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses, cancer vaccines teach your immune system to protect itself against your own body’s damaged or abnormal cells. They expose your body to cancer-associated molecules, enabling your immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
One cancer vaccine, known as sipuleucel-T (Provenge®) can extend survival in men with metastatic prostate cancer. In the future, cancer vaccination therapy may also have applications for difficult-to-treat head and neck cancers. It has also been studied in the context of medullary thyroid carcinoma and advanced thyroid cancers.
Conclusion
New and more targeted methods for treating cancer allow each individual patient to receive the best possible care. In this blog post, we looked at two novel cancer treatments—interventional radiology procedures and immunotherapy—and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of each option. We hope this information will help you make an informed decision about which novel treatment option may be right for you or your loved one.
Sources
Cancer Vaccines • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Embolization • Columbia Radiology
Head, Neck and Brain Tumor Embolization • Advent Health
Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer • Cancer Research Institute
MUC1 as a target for CAR-T therapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma • Cancer Medicine
Personalized cancer vaccination in head and neck cancer • Cancer Science
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