“Cancer affects everyone” is a phrase quite commonly heard in modern culture. This phrase’s popularity stems from its accuracy and relevance: cancer is common whether society likes it or not. If it is not the individual’s self, it is his or her parent, sibling, friend, coworker, or peer who is fighting the seemingly unending battle of cancer. However, constant advances in cancer treatment research show that the diagnosis of cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be. In the current day and age, a large handful of cancer treatment options are available, each specified to treat one or more malignancies. In recent years, the focus of research on chemotherapy treatment has shifted to the seemingly high-potential immunotherapy treatment. However, despite its recent triumphs, immunotherapy continues taking a backseat much of the time to the more traditional treatment. Regardless, the up-and-coming treatment option which originated at the tail end of the nineteenth century has gained some well-deserved respect over the past few decades, more specifically in very recent years. An advertisement for the drug OPDIVO refers to immunotherapy as “a chance to live longer” (Longer Life), testifying to the promise this form of treatment provides for cancer patients and their loved ones. During a recent segment of PBS NewsHour, host Hari Sreenivasan compares the current state of immunotherapy research to the position of NASA during decade of the 1960s (Cancer Immunotherapy Has), implying that it is at its peak, with multiple breakthroughs present in the near future. Science Magazine also testifies to the impressive recent progress of immunotherapeutic treatments in its article which named immunotherapy the “Breakthrough of the Year” (Couzin-Frankel). It has taken more than a century for immunotherapy to reach this high level of attention that it currently holds, however the treatment option still seems to have as many skeptics as fans. 

Immunotherapy works to fight cancer by stimulating the individual’s immune system to aggressively attack cancer cells in the body, a process that sometimes results in harmful and serious side effects. During an interview with PBS, Matt Ritchell, a reporter with an extensive background of researching and writing about immunotherapy for the New York Times, explains that when the immune system is “unleased” in the way which immunotherapy treatments cause it to be, other vital organs are put at risk (Cancer Immunotherapy Has). During this same interview, Jeffery Bluestone, a leading researcher in the field of immunotherapy, adds to Ritchell’s statement by attributing these risks to the strength of the immune system and mentions that a variety of autoimmune diseases can result in patients from the use of immunotherapy. 

An additional problem associated with immunotherapy is that its research is focused almost exclusively on anti-tumor affects, overlooking factors such as side effects (Ritchell). This fact may be the explanation for why more than a quarter of the patients whom participated in a study aiming to treat metastatic melanoma experienced what they noted as “interesting, rare or unexpected affects,” many of which required immediate medical attention (Ritchell). On the other end of this argument, excessive research has been done concerning cancer vaccines, a branch of immunotherapy, with results showing a lack of effect in treating cancers. Undeterred by this negative data, money is continually being poured into the study and trial of these vaccines, rather than the development of treatments which show greater potential in curing illness (Rosenburg, et. al. 909). An article published in the magazine Nature Medicine questions the focus of research on cancer vaccines, suggesting that it is due to people’s preconceived idea rooted in the history of medicine that vaccines prevent disease (Rosenburg, et. al. 909). 

When people think about cancer treatment, they think about chemotherapy. Its methods are tried and true; it was the original success story of medical oncology all the while still improving and developing today. For instance, chemotherapy as a treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which experienced its first breakthrough decades ago, now brags positive response rates in up to eighty-five percent of patients—results extremely high in the realm of cancer treatments (Canellos 2171). In spite of these existing statistics linked to the treatment’s immense positive patient outcomes, new developments of drugs cause some researchers to predict that even more success in treating this cancer of the immune system will soon occur (Canellos 2172). With many positive results, such as these, one may question why researchers look any further than chemotherapy in the attempt to cure cancer. The answer to this is simple: cancer itself is not black and white. It comes in many variations, goes through mutations and changes, and can move quickly and stealthily at an utterly unpredictable path through the human body. Something so versatile cannot be conquered by one simple treatment. 

    Recent breakthroughs in immunotherapeutic studies serve as a groundwork for the encouragement of continued research in this field, despite some setbacks commonly identified with immunotherapy. Because treatment through activation of immune response is a rather new phenomenon, with a large majority of demographically favorable drugs still in early stages of research or trial, a bright future for the treatment is highly plausible. Immunotherapy’s ability to effectively treat and, with continued research, potentially destroy multiple forms of cancer in humans is supported by promise found in recent breakthroughs, positive responses recorded in statistical data of clinical trials, and personal testimony of cancer survivors for which this form of treatment has been successful.

The past decade and a half, particularly the few most recent years, has seen advancements in immunotherapy, unimaginable to cancer researchers of the past, which provide a new hope for those battling various forms of cancer. Researches have been aware for over a century of the prospect that an organism’s immune system can be so tampered with that its actions and abilities are somewhat modified. In fact, the earliest attempt at treating cancer in humans through immune modulation dates back to 1891 when Doctor William B. Coley attempted to remedy a sarcoma patient (Cancer Immunotherapy Timeline). However, progress in the field of immunotherapy was slow throughout most of the twentieth century and therefore gained minimal public support. It was not until the late 1980s, when an immunologist stumbled upon the answer to how certain cancer cells prevent immune response, that immunotherapy truly began to turn heads (Couzin-Frankel). Since this discovery, now nearly twenty years in the past, the domain of immunotherapy has developed at a seemingly unstoppable rate. Treatment plans which have been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration are available for nearly every common form of cancer, not to mention the dozens of other drugs currently in advanced stages of clinical trials which further broaden the capacity of immunotherapy (Cancer Immunotherapy Treatments). 

Oncologists have been conscious that at least some potential exists in treating cancer with immune modulation since far before the recent surplus of medical breakthroughs. An article, which was published in 1972 by the British Journal of Cancer, suggested that the downfall of current cancer treatments available is that they lacked specificity in targeting malignant cancers, and that an immunological approach to treatment may be a better alternative (Currie 141). This author’s prophecy has been and continues to be fulfilled by the emergence of numerous medical developments in the modern day, particularly through the evolution of checkpoint blockades. This revolutionary phenomenon addresses the ability of cancer cells to restrict, and therefore weaken, immune system response. Checkpoint inhibitors recognize intruding antigens which are capable of impairing immune function and provide protection by releasing a counterattack on them (Baumeister, Freeman, Dranoff, and Sharpe 540-41).  The origin of this form of treatment was dependent on the detailed study of tumor cells and consequently the discovery of their power to create coinhibitory pathways: tumor tendencies with immunosuppressive nature. Following this medical finding, proposal of treatments to reverse these tumor actions quickly ensued, and, after sufficient trial periods, the first checkpoint blockades were clinically approved (Baumeister, Freeman, Dranoff, and Sharpe 543). While these drugs can in no way be considered a “cure”, and are far from one hundred percent effective in preventing all immune function from repression, their ability in the body to target solely cancer cells validates that they are a quantum leap in the approach to defeating the disease. 

Checkpoint inhibitors are not the only strategy in fighting malignant tumors that has come from the recent boom in immunotherapeutic progress. Adoptive cell transfer is the external modification followed by implantation of lymphocytes—cells which defend the body from intruders such as pathogens—into the body with the purpose of decreasing activation thresholds of immune function and specializing system targeting. This treatment type is a derivative of allogenic cell transplantation which involves even more specified cells, present in much lower concentration than lymphocytes and other immune response cells, and resulted in considerably aggressive immune response. Both approaches show to effectively overcome limits that the body itself sets for the immune system which, in times of normality protect healthy tissue, however in the presence of disease deter potential defense. The former of the two treatments mentioned, however, possesses less risks for an individual’s health because it improves immune function in a more controlled manner (Kalos and Ruella 15-16). The formation of adoptive cell transfer from allogenic cell transplantation further displays the sizable growth in immunotherapy treatment over recent years. The ability to be administered greater immune ability through a medical procedure allows malfunctioned or weakened immune systems within patients to rejuvenate, increasing likelihood of survival exponentially. These methods are just a few of many existing treatments which utilize antibodies that attack cancer directly, and the momentum in genesis of new treatments is sustaining. Newer treatments may still be completing a trial period, however profound data collected from these early applications implies exceptional future success.         

Tangible evidence for the achievements made in immunotherapeutic research and treatment is provided by the quantitative data collected by clinical trials of various drugs and vaccines. Study of the effectiveness of up and coming immunotherapeutic treatments commonly begin with the use of mice to observe how the drug may impact a living thing. At this point in research, the probability of a treatment’s capability to succeed in fighting and destroying tumor cells can be estimated by researchers. Trial of drugs which utilize adoptive immunotherapy followed this path of research, and early observation in human patients yielded impressive results. Fifty-one percent of people experienced cancer regression during very early trials of this therapy (Rosenburg, Yang, and Restivo 4). These results illustrated the promise this form of treatment has in treating cancer even in its later, established stages. Cancer vaccines are another form of cancer immunotherapy which activate immune response to increase the body’s ability to respond to and fight intruding cancer cells. While this form of treatment overall has gained a reputation of being less effective than other strategies of fighting cancer, positive results have come from trials. During a study on vaccine’s effects on malignant melanoma, data collected showed that forty-eight in a trial of ninety-eight patients with severe cancer forms showed at least some positive results. Additionally, seventeen patients experienced a complete response to the treatment—the vaccine allowed them to experience a period of full remission from their cancer (Ridgeway 878). All ninety-eight people who participated in this study had tried multiple other forms of cancer treatment and seen little to no positive results. Therefore, the vaccine’s ability to show success in nearly fifty-percent of trial participants is remarkable. Cancer vaccines are still a very new addition to the world of treatment, and therefore have much room to grow in achievement. 

Checkpoint inhibitors are a more developed form of immunotherapy treatments, and have shown great success in patients at an ever-increasing rate over recent years. OPDIVO, a drug which utilizes this form of therapy to treat a number of cancers, has passed the clinical trial stage and is now a commercially available, FDA approved drug. OPDIVO exhibited results during trials which outline the drug’s potential when compared with the results of those undergoing chemotherapy for the same illness. An advertisement for OPDIVO brags, “In a clinical trial, OPDIVO reduces the risk of dying [from non-small cell lung cancer] by 41% compared to chemotherapy” (Longer Life). This sizeable difference between immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic treatment illustrates immunotherapy’s current abilities and implies even greater future success, due to the youth of the field. These trials mentioned are just some of many which are constantly begun and completed with numerous positive outcomes recorded. However, numbers alone cannot validate a cancer treatment’s ability to change the life of a person; true stories of survivors vouch for the complete impact of immunotherapy and its developments. 

The innumerous awe-inspiring success stories of immunotherapy treatment in patients is a testament to the statistical figures bragged about in medical journals. A multitude of people who thought their chance of survivor was slim after trying other treatments with limited success were given another chance and entirely new perspective on life by immunotherapy. Cancer can affect even the most powerful of people. Former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, was diagnosed in 2015 with advanced stage melanoma. The president is currently in full remission after recently undergoing and immunotherapeutic regimen of treatment, however, Carter had previously tried multiple other forms of cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, with little to no results (McGinley). President Carter may not have been able to regain his health if not for research done on immunotherapy to create the treatments that his doctors prescribed for him. Immunotherapy is not only available for the upper echelon of society; many people across a variety of backgrounds and classes have had their lives changed by immunotherapy. Tom Telford, a loved school teacher and high school basketball coach, was diagnosed with advanced melanoma and given little hope when chemotherapy failed to treat him. However, after undergoing immunotherapy treatment, Telford’s cancer receded and he is still experiencing full remission nine years later (Winslow). Immunotherapy gave to this man the gift of more time to experience life. The ability to give this gift to just a few people makes the research and funding of this form of treatment worth it, therefore the multitude of people immunotherapy has helped falsifies any argument against further developing the treatment.    

The potential that immunotherapy treatment possesses is distinguished by its evolutionary properties and the proof of its existing success. Testimony of how effective immunotherapy can be from both experienced researchers and everyday people whose lives have been altered by it reassure what statistical evidence communicates: immunotherapy works. The current discoveries, drugs, and treatment plans are just the tip of the ice burg in the realm of what immunotherapy is capable of. Most of what is known about its capabilities has been found out within the past decade, making the concept of treating cancer without anything but the patients existing immune system, an incredibly young medical advancement. When examining how far the treatment has come in such a small window of time, the possibilities of what can be developed over the coming years is unimaginable, and the future of immunotherapy shines amazingly bright.  
