Pancreatic Cancer Biotherapy / Immunotherapy
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Pancreatic Cancer Treatment: Biotherapy / Immunotherapy
At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, we have long understood that the immune system can play an important role in pancreatic cancer treatment. The immune system is the body's own natural power of protection.
Immunotherapy (also called biotherapy, biological therapy, or biological response modifier therapy) uses your immune system—either directly or indirectly—to fight pancreatic cancer or to lessen the side effects that may be caused by some pancreatic cancer treatments.
Biotherapy aids in pancreatic cancer treatment by helping to repair, stimulate, or enhance the body’s natural immune responses. Biotherapy can be used alone as a primary pancreatic cancer treatment, or in conjunction with other treatment modalities, such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Biotherapy/Immunotherapy may be used to:
- Stop, control or interfere with processes that permit pancreatic cancer cell growth
- Make pancreatic cancer cells more recognizable, and therefore more susceptible to destruction, by your immune system
- Boost the killing power of immune system cells, such as T-cells, NK-cells, and macrophages
- Alter pancreatic cancer cells' growth patterns to promote behavior similar to that of healthy cells
- Block or reverse the process that changes a normal or pre-cancerous cell into a cancerous cell
- Enhance your body’s natural ability to repair or replace normal cells damaged or destroyed by other forms of pancreatic cancer treatment (e.g., chemotherapy, radiation)
- Prevent pancreatic cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body
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