Southlake, TX, July17, 2017 — The quest to harness the body’s own power to successfully fight and defeat cancer has taken positive steps forward in recent years. Although still far from perfect, immunotherapy is showing great promise as an emerging treatment that may one day enable people to avoid the side effects that commonly accompany chemotherapy and radiation.

“Researchers have made significant breakthroughs in two types of treatment that are giving rise to hope that immunotherapy may soon come into its own as a highly viable method for treating a variety of cancers,” says Dr. Gregory Echt, founder and lead surgeon at Southlake Oncology, a Choice Cancer Center. “One treatment is tailored specifically to a patient while the other involves pharmaceuticals that overcome cancer’s ability to block immune response. Both are designed to entice the body into more effectively fighting the disease.”

Immunotherapy has been a focus of research for more than a century. With breakthroughs slow to come, the treatment option was eclipsed by the positive outcomes both chemotherapy and radiation can have. Despite their potentially negative side effects, both forms of treatment are proven to effectively eradicate cancer cells.

“What makes immunotherapy such an important area of research is the potential it holds for being able to target this disease while leaving healthy cells undamaged,” explains Dr. Echt. “Unlike chemotherapy and radiation that cannot distinguish diseased cells from healthy ones, the body’s own immune system can. This is giving rise to new treatments that can have positive outcomes and present with lower toxicity overall.”

At present immunotherapy is showing great promise in treating such conditions as leukemia, lymphoma and lung, kidney and bladder cancers, among others. As more study goes into the development of treatments and medications that can harness the body’s own power to fight cancer, patients may find more options available to them.

People who are diagnosed with cancer are urged to talk to their doctors about all treatment options available to them. Immunotherapy may be a viable option in some cases.

About Southlake Oncology
Southlake Oncology, located in the Southlake and Grapevine area is a community-focused oncology practice that delivers exceptional care to North Texas cancer patients with a variety of cancer diagnoses and blood disorders. Like the other Choice Cancer Care facilities, we are an independent treatment center that is physician-owned.