The global burden of cancer incidence is estimated to be up to 18.1 million people with 9.6 million deaths in 2018. The major cause of death is due to the high toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs and drug resistance developed by cancer cells. Thus, there is an unmet need for appropriate therapy which can kill cancer cell alone and reduce drug resistance. Immunotherapy is an alternative therapy for cancer which mainly boosts the immune response of these patients and kills cancer cells alone with fewer side effects. Since Professor James Allison from M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Texas, USA, received the Noble prize for his outstanding contribution to the field of immunotherapy, there has been great excitement in this field. Immunotherapy has become a powerful branch of cancer therapy for the treatment of various types of cancers due to milder side effects than the presently available chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It mainly works by strengthening the host immune responses against tumor cells by supplementation of modified immune system components. There are four different types of immunotherapies: monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell therapies. Immunotherapy can be given in combination with mild doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy obtain effective and non-toxic treatment for most cancer patients.
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