Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy – using your own immune system to destroy cancer cells – is one of the most promising cancer treatments available today for some advanced cancers. It has achieved results other treatments have been unable to when treating specific types of cancer and other diseases.

Immunotherapy is often included in part of a treatment plan that may also include radiation, chemotherapy or surgery. It’s frequently administered through an IV, but can sometimes be given in pill form or as an injection under the skin (subcutaneous).

Types of Immunotherapy

There are many types of immunotherapy used to fight cancer:

• CAR T-cell therapy – Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy takes your T-cells (white blood cells that help the body fight illness) from your body and genetically modifies them to better fight cancer, then infuses them back into your blood stream. UMGCCC offers CAR T-cell therapy to treat lymphoma and leukemia.
• TIL therapy – Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy takes immune cells found on your tumor, finds the ones that can best identify and destroy tumors in your body, then grows them in large numbers to give back to you. This therapy is offered here for a growing list of cancer types, including melanoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and lung cancer.
• Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy – Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors stop the “off” signals that are telling your body’s T-cells not to kill cancer cells. Once the “off” signals are blocked, T-cells can fight the tumor cells.
• Monoclonal antibodies – Monoclonal antibodies are cancer-fighting proteins created in a lab. They act like the naturally occurring antibodies in the immune system. This is a therapy you can receive at UMGCCC to treat throat cancer. 

Choose UMGCCC for Immunotherapy

The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) is a national leader in researching and advancing immunotherapy.

• We were among the first medical centers in the country to offer CAR T-cell therapy, a highly personalized form of immunotherapy used to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
• Our transplant and cellular therapy team includes internationally and nationally recognized leaders in the field.
• We offer a state-of-the-art Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit for stem cell transplants, recovery and follow-up care.

To learn more about the immunotherapy treatment options available at UMGCCC, call 410-328-7904 or 1-800-888-8823 to make an appointment with a UMGCCC medical oncologist.