Immunoterapiaa

Immunoterapiaa is a medical term used for therapies that modulate the immune system to treat disease. It encompasses strategies that aim to enhance, redirect, or suppress immune activity to combat conditions such as cancer, infectious diseases, allergies, and autoimmune disorders.

Immunotherapies can be broadly categorized as active approaches, which stimulate the body's own immune response, and passive approaches, which provide immune effectors outside the body. Active therapies include vaccines and strategies that boost immune recognition of diseased cells, while passive therapies include monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, and cellular therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells.

Key modalities include checkpoint inhibitors that release brakes on immune cells (for example targeting PD-1, PD-L1, or CTLA-4), adoptive cell transfer such as CAR-T therapies, monoclonal antibodies that target tumor antigens, cancer vaccines, and cytokine therapies. Allergen immunotherapy is another form used to desensitize reactions to environmental triggers.

Indications vary by modality and disease, with cancer being a major area of success. Immunotherapies are also explored for chronic infections and certain autoimmune diseases, though responses are heterogeneous and not universal. Biomarkers such as expression of immune targets or tumor mutational burden help select patients and predict outcomes in some settings.

Common adverse effects reflect heightened immune activity and can include inflammation of organs, allergy-like reactions, and, in some therapies, serious risks such as cytokine release syndrome or neurologic toxicities. Management requires multidisciplinary care and careful patient selection. Costs and access remain important considerations.

Research continues to optimize combinations, sequencing with other treatments, and the identification of predictive biomarkers to broaden benefit and reduce toxicity.