What are the
risks associated with immunotherapy
and AML?
The risk of immunotherapy,
particularly in patients who have
aggressive blood cancers,
is that they often can become quite ill
and in other diseases,
sometimes patients have the reserve
to be able to handle this.
But it can be an issue in AML,
particularly where patients are
chronically cytopenic, can have low blood
count and a low immune system.
And because of that it is very difficult
for a person to tolerate
some of these side effects
that occur with immunotherapy.
So, I mean, we can also think
about some of the other immunotherapies
that might be used.
So, for example,
TTI-622 that's also being studied as well
even here at Sloan-Kettering.
That's an antibody drug and that's being
combined with a drug called azacitidine,
which is an older drug,
a light kind of chemotherapy.
And this antibody drug is
is infused intravenously.
And the idea is that in combination
it allows the patient's immune system
to see a leukemia cell,
which was previously almost invisible
to the immune system
because of this protein called CD47,
and that the immune system, specifically
cell called a macrophage, could
then all of a sudden see the leukemia cell
and gobble it up and kill it off.
The risk of any kind of antibody,
there's always a risk of what's called
infusion reactions, you know, as the drug
is kind of dripped in the immune system,
the patient's body could react
almost like an allergic reaction to that.
That has to be done in a monitored
setting of an appropriate clinic.
Those are some of the side effects.
And there are other
sort of rare side effects as well.
But I think it's all about really
a conversation between the patient
and his or her physician.
You know, really it's and
and care providers and the team, you know,
about weighing the risk and benefits
of any kind of- any kind of therapy.
