Question

Describe a way that we can use the immune system or products of the immune system to fight cancer.

Answer 1

It is theorized that our immune system is able to fight cancer by itself. However, most of the cancers are able to avoid the action of the immune system and proliferate. Nowadays, a novel technique called immunotherapy is used to enhance or promote a immunological response against tumor cells.

Imagine that tumor cells are thieves but they are using a costume to avoid the police (our immune cells). Immunotherapy is used to take off the costume that the tumor cells are using and our immune cell will immediately act. Some of the ways how immunotherapy is applied is by using antibodies against specific antigens on the surface of the tumor cells or against overexpressed growth receptors on the cancer cells. These antibodies will facilitate a bunch of immunological response such as Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity.