8D Immunotherapy

Question 1

Explain the difference between activation and suppression immunotherapies.

Answer 1

Activation immunotherapies enhance the functioning of the immune system, whereas suppression immunotherapies reduce it.1

Question 2

Explain why patients who receive chemotherapy will typically experience more side effects than those who only receive immunotherapy.

Answer 2

Traditional chemotherapy typically works by targeting and killing rapidly dividing cells.1This leads to many rapidly dividing, but non-cancerous cells, such as hair follicles and cells lining the gut, being killed, causing widespread side effects.2Immunotherapy, on the other hand, can use antibodies to target cancerous cells more specifically, killing only cancerous cells and not damaging other cells of the body. As a result, it typically causes fewer side effects.