Biologic Therapy
What is 'biologic therapy'?
Biologic Therapy is different from Chemotherapy. It mimics the Immune System or targets parts of the body. There is a drug Retoximob. Anything with mob is a Molecule antibody against white blood cell. Antibody is a protein molecule that is one's body primary defences. A generic engineer mouse is use to infuse into the body. The antibody which normal go after the bacteria in the Immune System is alert and this is use to destroy the cancer cell.
Will biologic therapy 'cure' cancer?
Curing cancer means that all the cancer that you see goes away number 1. That's called a complete remission where you can't see any more cancer and number 2, it stays away and certain cancers have different periods of vulnerability for when they come back. Breast cancer, for instance, everyone is encouraged as they should be when it stays away for two years or five years, however, breast cancer comes back much later in a small minority of patients. Lymphomas tend to come back earlier. They are fast growing cancers as do leukaemia's. So at a two-year or five-year mark, they may be considered cured. So biologic agents, because they kill cancer cells especially in conjunction with chemotherapy can indeed be part of the cure. It appears that you can with either chemotherapy or biologic agents kill enough cancer cells so that the immune system takes over and can clean up the rest. That, in essence, is how cancer is cured.
What are the side effects of biologic therapy?
Biologic agents are usually antibodies against either a lymphocyte such as in the case of rituximab or endothelial growth factor as in the case of bevacizumab used to stop blood vessel growth. So biologic agents work more slowly and the side effects are different. I remember the side effects of biologic agents by remembering that most of them were genetically engineered in mice. And so if somebody gives me a mouse protein into my veins, I am likely to have an allergic reaction. In fact, that's the rule rather than the exception. Things like fevers and chills or hives. So we expect that and we prepare for it with medicines like benedryl and tylenol. Interesting, these reactions only happen the first time. Once a patient is through the first infusion of a biologic agent, they may never have another reaction.
What is 'bevacizumab'?
Bevacizumab is an antibody against tumor blood vessel growth, and it actually decreases the amount of blood vessel growth, or angiogenesis. So, these are exciting new agents. Biologic agents have different side effects from chemotherapy. They do not kill rapidly dividing cells, so they do not cause hair loss or nausea or low blood counts as chemotherapy may. Instead, because they're usually engineered in another species, perhaps a mouse, they often cause allergic reactions. So these medicines are infused slowly, usually through the veins, and people are given medicine such as Benadryl and Tylenol, perhaps steroids, to prevent allergic reactions. After the medicines are actually in the body, the side effects are usually very modest.