Immunotherapy, What it Means for Cancer Treatments

There are a variety of forms of cancer which makes it harder on the doctor and patient to choose a treatment plan. The two most common types of cancer are breast and colon cancer. It is already estimated that over 300,000 people will be diagnosed specifically with these two types of cancer by the end of this year (ACS, 2012). This number needs to be lowered but before that can happen an effective and reliable treatment plan needs to be established. This plan will not only help current and future patients conquer cancer, it will provide valuable information about the disease and doctors and scientists can... ... middle of paper ... ... 207-214.

Extensive research has been done in the field of oncology to try and determine the best and most effective methods to cure cancer. Cancer has been a very critical and long term problem that has been seen for centuries. Two distinct fields of study are the use of pharmaceutical drugs and complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). Both of these fields produce drastically different results based on the side effects, effectiveness, and overall health of the treated patients. Several researchers have came to the conclusion that the best way to cure cancer would be to incorporate the practices together thus enhancing and bringing the positives from the two.Cancer is an important health problem that has drastically increased over the past couple of decades.

Expert review of molecular diagnostics, 8(4), 405-415. National Cancer Institute. (2011). Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/HPV-vaccine National Cancer Institute.

29 Apr. 2014. www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understandingcancer/genetesting/page8>. "Understanding Cancer Series." Gene Testing. N.p., 1 Sept. 2006.

David and Markman(2003) an extra or abnormal chromosome may increase the risk of cancer for instance, subjects with Down syndrome, who have three instead of the normal two copies of chromosomes ,have higher risk of developing acute cancer. In the fight against cancer, the use of chemicals (chemotherapy) is one of the best methods to destroy or inhibit the growth cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be used to effectively treat extensive (metastatic) cancer, which affects more than one part of the body (metastatic) cancer. This mechanism makes chemotherapy very important for a subject’s battle against cancer as radiation therapy and surgery are appropriate f... ... middle of paper ... ..., H.L. (2007) Pharmacogenomics of cancer chemotherapy-induced toxicity.

This was launched by Novartis and Broad Institute3. According to Mark Fishman, President of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, “Probing cell lines with medicines targeted at specific pathways, as done for the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia, provides a powerful tool for design of cancer treatment.” Even though cancer cell lines are important model system, the scientific community questions the reliability of this system. During the first passages, the cell lines show chromosome abnormalities, molecular/ morphologic characteris... ... middle of paper ... ... J.-P., Varma, S., & Gottesman, M. M. (2013). The clinical relevance of cancer cell lines. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 105(7), 452–8.

Lung cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide both in men and women. It accounts for nearly 1.2 million deaths per year. Over the last few years many advances have been made in the field of surgery, chemotherapy and radiations for treating this deadly cancer but they are unlikely to result in cure. Lung cancer is associated with very bad prognosis. So there is a dire need of developing novel therapeutic vaccines for improving prognosis of this disease Cancer therapeutic vaccines are designed to regulate the host tumour interactions in order to shift the balance from tumour acceptance to tumour control.

What are the types of genetic tests? - Genetics Home Reference. Retrieved from http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/testing/uses National Cancer Institute (n.d.). HPV and Cancer - National Cancer Institute. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV National University Hospital (2003, November).

Web. 7 June 2010. Schepelmann, Silke, et al. “Viral Vectors for Gene-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy.” Institute of cancer Research. (2006): 647-648.

A stem cell transplant may be done to increase the number of new cells, which will develop into normal blood cells. Biological therapy, on the other hand, involves the use of special drugs that stimulate your own immune system to fight cancer. There are various medicines used to boost the immune response and these inc... ... middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Talpaz M, Hehlmann R, Quintas-Cardama A, et al. Re-emergence of interferon-α in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Leukemia 2013.