What Is Biotherapy?

Biotherapy is a broad concept that involves all methods of applying biological macromolecules for treatment, and there are many types. If the operation mode is divided into cell therapy and non-cell therapy (including antibody, peptide or protein vaccine, gene vaccine, in vivo gene therapy, etc.).

Basic Information

English name

biotherapy

Visiting department

Biological Therapy

Multiple groups

Patients with solid tumors

Contagious

no

Biotherapy classification

Acellular therapy

(1) Some of the most commonly used antibodies are monoclonal antibodies, that is, targeted therapies, targeted therapies, at the molecular level of the cell, targeting a well-defined carcinogenic site (the site can be a protein inside the tumor cell) Molecule, or a gene fragment) to design a corresponding therapeutic drug. When the drug enters the body, it will specifically select the carcinogenic site to combine to effect the tumor cell specific death without affecting the normal tissue cells surrounding the tumor. Therefore, molecular targeted therapy is also called "biological missile".

(2) Vaccine The preparation of a tumor vaccine is a simple matter and a complicated one. It is also one of the research hotspots in recent years. The principle is to activate the patient's own immune system, use tumor cells or tumor antigens to induce the body's specific cellular immunity and humoral immune response, enhance the body's anti-cancer ability, prevent tumor growth, Spread and relapse to achieve the purpose of clearing or controlling the tumor. Cancer vaccine research is hot in European countries. For example, the development and application of melanoma vaccine was earlier. Due to the different animals or subjects used in each laboratory, tumor types, vaccine types, immune routes, etc., the experimental results vary widely, and the methods for preparing tumor vaccines, the scope of application, the timing of application and the compatibility with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, etc. There is no unified standard yet to be further studied and summarized.

(3) Gene therapy refers to the transfer of certain genetic material into a patient's body, allowing it to be expressed in the body, and ultimately achieving a method of treating a certain disease. p53 is the first gene therapy drug in China and the first approved therapeutic drug in the world. The listing of p53 has attracted wide attention from all over the world, and has been hailed as "a new milestone in the field of genetic research and biological high technology, which will have an impact on the world's medical and health systems and make an important contribution to human health."

2. Cell Therapy

At present, several somatic immunotherapy commonly used in clinical practice include:

(1) Autologous dendritic cell vaccine (DC cells);

(2) Killer cells (CIK cells) induced by autologous cytokines;

(3) Stimulation of CIK cells (DC-CIK cells) by autologous dendritic cells (DC)

(4) Autologous natural killer cells (NK cells); the content of these cells in the human body is very low, less than 1%, so we have provided a method for patients, which is in vitro expansion culture, to provide patients with personalized treatment.

Indications for biotherapy

Biotherapy is applicable to a variety of solid tumors, including malignant melanoma, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer, Liver cancer, gastric cancer and other solid tumors can prevent recurrence after surgery. It can also be used for the recurrence of blood system malignant tumors such as multiple myeloma, B lymphoma and leukemia. Quality of life and the purpose of suppressing tumor progression.

Contraindications to biotherapy

1. Pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding;

2. Cell lymphoma patients;

3. Uncontrollable severely infected patients;

4. Patients who are allergic to biological products such as interleukin-2 (IL-2);

5. Patients with cachexia caused by advanced tumor and low peripheral blood.

6. Organ failure.

Biotherapy benefits

Biological treatment has almost no toxic and side effects. It can be used for patients recovering after surgery, and can also be used in combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, so as to achieve the purpose of curing or extending the survival time of patients.