The goal of immunotherapy is to turn the body's immune system to a cancer-fighting tool. Various medical processes were employed and several drugs were developed in achieving this. The drugs were specifically designed for "active immunology", which means they catalyze the body's immune system to starve or kill cancer cells. These catalysts are known as BRMs (biological response modifiers).

 

"Vaccines" is the term used to refer to the drugs being utilized for active immunology. They replicate the functions of the traditional vaccines. This is how they work. For instance, the vaccines for measles, mumps and chickenpox expose the body to weak versions of the bacteria and viruses causing the disease. In turn, the body develops antibodies aimed at the source of the disease. The result? The body develops immunity when exposed to the real bacteria and viruses.

Interferons, agent for active immunology, are a group of hormones that slow down cell growth causing the immune system to react against cancer viruses. Hormonal proteins, a group called interleukins, provide the same results through a different cell interaction procedure. Some have better results in the earlier stages of cancer but are not very effective in advanced stages. Others work well with blood cancers than with tumors. This type of medications are normally used to strengthen the immune system to fight cancer.

Passive immunotherapy uses antibodies or other components of the immune system made in the laboratory; it does not depend on the body to attack the illness. These cells maybe designed to fight against certain types of cancer. Antibodies are created in test tubes to attack an identified element of a cancer cell, the antigen. Antigens are unique in a particular type of cancer.

Limited studies have shown a degree of positive results of using immunotherapy drug which was approved for other purpose in combination with chemotherapy for patients of mesothelioma. This seems to have occurred in cases that were diagnosed early. Sadly, most cases of mesothelioma cannot be diagnosed until it has already developed and scattered significantly.

Usage of immunotherapy for treatment of mesothelioma is still being experimented. In 2000, a study conducted in France revealed that using interferon and interleukin drugs in conjunction with chemo treatment did not yield remarkable improvement to the process of mesothelioma treatment. One reason why no immunotherapy drug for mesothelioma was yet developed is because of the complexity of mesothelioma tumors; they can evade identification by the immune system.

Research is still going on. A drug research firm, Morphotek, is developing a series of antibodies that are specifically made for cancer. They are also into developing an antibody against mesothelin, a protein prevalent in tumors of people with pancreatic carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma, non-small lung carcinoma, mesothelioma and other cancers. Currently, the drug is on clinical trial (stage II) for pancreatic cancer.