fbpx

WHY IMMUNOTHERAPY TREATMENT?

Immunotherapy is a breakthrough treatment that strengthens the immune system – enabling it to recognize, remember, and fight cancer cells. The treatment, applied through an immune checkpoint blocker, may help slow down or stop the growth of cancer cells in the patient’s body – boosting overall survival and improving the quality of life.

To learn more about immunotherapy and how it may help you or a loved one, talk to a medical oncologist.

FIND A DOCTOR

Biomarker Testing

Biomarkers are crucial measurable indicators of the presence or severity of a disease and its state. Understanding the presence of biomarkers can help doctors predict the body’s response to certain treatments.

Learn more

MSI Testing

A specialized type of procedure called microsatellite instability (MSI) testing can provide significant benefits to advanced cancer patients.

Learn more

WHAT ARE BIOMARKERS?

Biomarkers are crucial measurable indicators of the presence or severity of a disease, and its state. Understanding the presence of biomarkers can help doctors predict the body’s response to certain treatments.

Know More About Immunotherapy
 

BIOMARKER TESTING

What is it? How does it work?

AN IMPORTANT FACTOR OF PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

Biomarkers are proteins found in blood, tissues, and fluids that help identify the best possible treatment for a patient.

TARGET FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY

Immunotherapy targets the Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expressed in lung tumors.

ENSURING MAXIMUM BENEFIT

Measuring a patient’s PD-L1 biomarker expression can help ensure the best response to immunotherapy.

HOW CAN IT HELP A CANCER PATIENT?

Biomarker screening is important in the treatment of lung cancer because if a patient is found to have a certain biomarker called PD-L1 – a high expression of which directly correlates to response and overall patient survival – that patient becomes an ideal candidate for immunotherapy.

Hope From Within ambassador Diego Castro, the son of renowned news anchor Angelo Castro who passed away due to lung cancer, stresses the importance of getting tested early on:

“That was my mistake, I didn’t tell my dad early on to get tested. I could have had him for a longer time. I don’t want that to happen to other people. I want them to have a fighting chance,” said Diego.

  

WHAT IS MSI?

MSI

Microsatellite instability is a genetic marker, which may be found in many types of cancer. It happens when the body stops correcting certain mistakes in cells.

What is MMR?

Mismatch Repair (MMR) is the body’s spellchecker. It finds mistakes in cells and fixes them. But sometimes the MMR can stop working properly.

Know More About Immunotherapy

cigarettes

Beyond Lung Cancer: Other Diseases Linked to Smoking

Health think tank Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) reported that in the Philippines alone, annual deaths due to tobacco-related diseases reach over 100,000. In Southeast Asia, more than 500,000 die due to tobacco-related diseases,…
Cancer Doctor

Metastatic Lung Cancer: What Should You Do?

If you or your loved one has received a diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer, you may feel anxious, angry, overwhelmed, confused, and so many other emotions. Allow yourself to feel all these things. You have the right to feel them. Metastatic…

Causes of Lung Cancer: How to Avoid Them

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancer types worldwide. Lung Cancer in the Philippines is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men and is the third for women. In the Philippines, the Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) recorded…

QUOTES FROM SPECIALISTS

Dr. Cesar Recto II

“With the availability of targeted therapies and new treatment options like immunotherapy, there’s hope to prolong life.”

Dr. Cesar Recto IIMedical Affairs Director, MSD
Professor Morteza Aghmesheh

“The interesting thing about immunotherapy is, when a head and neck cancer patient is responsive to it, he or she will continue to receive the benefits of the treatment. So when you follow these patients for two years, you’ll find that 70 to 80 percent of them remain responsive to the treatment.”

Professor Morteza AghmeshehMedical Oncologist and Cancer Researcher, Wollongong Hospital in Australia
Dr. Daniel Chan

“There was a lot of skepticism in the medical community that something as gentle as immunotherapy could work for something as aggressive as cancer. But from recent clinical trials we now know that it could be effective in the right circumstances.”

Dr. Daniel ChanMedical Oncologist, Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore
Oscar Chan

“In the past, majority of lung cancer patients can only live one year. The median survival is only around a year to 17 months. But with the introduction of immunotherapy, the patient can live longer; the response rate is high and is more consistent.”

Oscar ChanLung, Head and Neck Cancer Specialist, Hong Kong Integrated Oncology Centre