Whenever a new disease or illness is discovered, it takes at least a few years or decades to come up with a proper vaccination or treatment. In recent years, pharmaceutical and biotech companies have been working alongside esteemed scientists to find a better cure for two of the deadliest diseases – Lymphoma and Leukaemia. There has been plenty of new theories, discoveries and clinical trials that have been completed to find a fast treatment with minimal side effects for these diseases.
Currently, numerous manufacturing companies are using the same conventional methods for treating leukemia and Lymphoma. However, these drugs come with a lot of side effects and can give patients overall painful experience. This is why many manufacturers are looking forward to discovering better solutions for treating these diseases.
Recently, there has been researched for treating these diseases with immunotherapy. For years, scientists have been trying to find ways to control a human’s immune system and use it to properly prevent these diseases by executing the dead or abnormal cells in the body. Now they have discovered a way to do exactly that.
While this type of immunotherapy is still in its clinical trials, it may present a good future for pharmaceutical companies. Apart from this, multiple other ways have been discovered to treat Leukaemia and Lymphoma.
The Treatment of Single Cloned Antibodies
Often, cancer cells have multiple substances known as an antigen on its surface. To get rid of it, the human body creates antibodies, however, since your body does not recognize how to fight it, it ends up creating antibodies until it can get rid of all the abnormal cells. Depending on the severity, these antibodies can end up destroying healthy cells along the way.
The single cloned antibody treatment, also known as monoclonal antibody treatment is a new method of eliminating the abnormal cells just like the natural antibodies. A good example of this is an antibody called rituximab. This treatment finds only the CD20 code of antigens on B lymphocyte cells and destroys them. This treatment is very effective in treating B-cell cancers. Which is why it is a perfect treatment for leukemia and lymphoma.
Vaccination for Cancer
Not many know about this but there are vaccinations against some type of cancers. However, it works differently than the usual vaccines. This therapeutic vaccine helps the immune system to recognize tumor cells and attack them. Once it is attacked, it is carried out of the system by the immune system. The goal is to make it remember cancer cells and attack them whenever they resurface in the body.
For now, the clinical trials are still being done to make the treatment work better and faster. These vaccines can bring a good future for many cancer patients.
Adoptive T-Cell Therapy
This T-cell therapy uses white blood cells in the body to battle cancer cells. The T-cells in white blood cells are extracted from a person’s blood, taken to a lab and then changed to perform this therapy. Once it is changed, it is transfused back into the body to battle the cancer cells. The T-cells do this by eating abnormal cells. For now, it is being tested to see if it can be used in all types of cancers. One type of T-cell therapy is proven to be effective against lymphoma and leukemia.
The Side Effects
While these treatments are more effective and less painful than the previous methods, they still carry some side effects. These side effects can be different depending on what therapy is being used and what type of cancer the individual is carrying. Some of the side effects are:
- Low blood pressure
- Flu-like symptoms
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Rashes on skin
These are some of the mild side effects that may come with these therapies. While it may not be this severe on all the patients, some may experience more severe side effects such as colitis or thyroid issues. However, for many, these side effects do not last long and disappear after a while with mild treatment. Others with long-lasting effects may need to have the side effects controlled with steroids or other drugs.
Conclusion
The Future of treating lymphoma and leukemia seems to be bright with so many effective treatments being discovered. Immunotherapy is one of the most popular treatment methods that is currently being tested for treating even the most severe forms of cancer. Researchers are making sure to find more cancer cell coding to help them find better treatment methods through immunotherapy so that it can respond to everyone effectively.
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