Immunotherapy

I got an assignment from my consulent because I know very little about this kind of therapy.. So, let me write on this blog to help me remember..

Immunotherapy is a form of medical treatment based on the concept to modulating immune system to achieve a prophylactic and/or therapeutic goal.

The main used of immunotherapy is to treat cancer and allergies. In this post I will talk about allergen immunotherapy.

Allergen immunotherapy is the process by which increasing doses of an allergen (allergy-causing substance) are injected subcutaneously (under the skin) over time as a treatment to prevent allergic symptoms that usually occur on exposure to the allergen.

The point is to make your body less sensitive from the allergen. This treatment can prevent the development of new allergies in your body. It is clinically proved to stop the allergy to become asthma in children.

The latest research in immunotherapy concludes that in June 2008, US doctors from the Clinical Research Division led by Dr. Cassian Yee at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle had for the first time successfully treated a patient with advanced skin cancer by injecting the patient with immune cells cloned from his own immune system. The patient was free from tumours within eight weeks of treatment. Experts say that this case could be a landmark in the treatment of cancer in general.