Biological Therapy

Posted: March 1, 2004

Biological therapy is a type of treatment that works with your immune system. It can help fight cancer or help control side effects (how your body reacts to the drugs you are taking) from other cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

What is the difference between biological therapy and chemotherapy?
Biological therapy and chemotherapy are both treatments that fight cancer. While they may seem alike, they work in different ways. Biological therapy helps your immune system fight cancer. Chemotherapy attacks the cancer cells directly.

How does biological therapy fight cancer?
Doctors are not sure how biological therapy helps your immune system fight cancer. But they think it may:

• Stop or slow the growth of cancer cells.
• Make it easier for your immune system to destroy, or get rid of, cancer cells.
• Keep cancer from spreading to other parts of your body.

What is my immune system and how does it work?
Your immune system includes your spleen, lymph nodes, tonsils, bone marrow, and white blood cells. These all help protect you from getting infections and diseases.

When your immune system works the way it should, it can tell the difference between "good" cells that keep you healthy and "bad" cells that make you sick. But sometimes this doesn't happen. Doctors are doing research to learn why some immune systems don't fight off diseases like cancer.

White blood cells are an important part of your immune system. When your doctor or nurse talks about your white blood cells, he or she may use words like:

• Monocytes which are types of white blood cells.
• Lymphocytes which are types of white blood cells.
• B cells which are kinds of lymphocytes.
• T cells which are kinds of lymphocytes.

What are cancer vaccines?
Cancer vaccines are a form of biological therapy. While other vaccines (like ones for measles or mumps) are given before you get sick, cancer vaccines are given after you have cancer. Cancer vaccines may help your body fight the cancer and keep it from coming back.

Doctors are learning more all the time about cancer vaccines. They are now doing research about how cancer vaccines can help people diagnosed with melanoma, lymphoma, and kidney, breast, ovarian, prostate, colon, and rectal cancers.

What are the names of some biological therapy?
There are many kinds of biological therapy. Here are the names of some common ones with ways to say them and brief statements about how they are used in cancer care.

Treatments for cancer:

• BCG or Bacillus Calmette-Guérin treats bladder tumors or bladder cancer.
• IL-2 or Interleukin-2 treats certain types of cancer.
• Interferon alpha treats certain types of cancer.
• Rituxan treats non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
• Herceptin or Trastuzumab treats breast cancer.

Treatments for controlling side effects:

• Neupogen or G-CSF increases white blood cell counts and helps prevent infection in people who are getting chemotherapy.
• Procrit, Epogen, or Erythropoietin helps make red blood cells in people who have anemia.
• IL-11, Interleukin-11, Oprelvekin or Neumega helps make platelets (a type of blood cell).

Source: National Cancer Institute

We Have Answers Do you have medical questions or need help finding a doctor? The experts at Columbia St. Mary's and Advanced Healthcare can help. Click here.