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Immunotherapy - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Immunotherapy : (noun)
1: therapy designed to produce immunity to a disease or to
enhance resistance by the immune system
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Immunotherapy : Immunotherapy: Treatment to stimulate or restore the ability of the immune (defense) system to fight infection and disease. Biological therapy is thus any form of treatment that uses the
body's natural abilities that constitute the immune system to fight infection and disease or to protect the body from some of the side effects of treatment.
Immunotherapy (also called biological therapy or biotherapy) often employs substances called biological response modifiers (BRMs). The body normally produces low levels of BRMs in response to
infection and disease. Large amounts of BRMs can be made in the laboratory to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases.
Forms of biological therapy include monoclonal antibodies, interferon, interleukin-2 (IL-2), and several types of colony-stimulating factors (CSF, GM-CSF, G-CSF). Interleukin-2 and interferon are
BRMs being tested for the treatment of advanced malignant hepatitis C .
Biologic therapy to block the action of instruments of inflammation called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is being explored to treat conditions such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid Etanercept
(ENBREL) is a commercially available injectable TNF-blocking treatment for patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis.
The side effects of biological therapy depend on the type of treatment. Often, these treatments cause flu-like symptoms such as chills, rash , and some bleed or bruise easily. In addition,
interleukin therapy can cause swelling. Depending on how severe these problems are, patients may need to stay in the hospital during treatment. These side effects are usually short-term and they
gradually go away after treatment stops.
Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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