Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Symptoms And Solutions
Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy may be used as a form of treatment for a patient's ALL. The use of drugs to assist an affected individual's own immune system with recognizing and destroying malignant cells more effectively is called immunotherapy. Man-made versions of antibodies or proteins that help fight off infections are called monoclonal antibodies, such as blinatumomab. One part of blinatumomab attaches to protein CD19, while the other part attaches to the CD3 protein. The CD19 protein is commonly found on the surface of acute lymphoblastic leukemia malignant cells, while the CD3 protein is found on the immune T cells that help kill malignant cells.
The binding of the malignant cells and the immune cells are thought to help the patient's immune system kill the ALL cells. Another drug called inotuzumab ozogamicin contains anti-CD22 antibodies that bind to the CD22 protein on the cancerous cells. This allows the corresponding chemotherapy drug to target and kill those cells. CAR T-cell therapy is another form of immunotherapy where a patient's own T cells are engineered in a laboratory to attach to and kill malignant cells.