Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Pediatric Cancers: What is the Best Option?

Authors

Miriam Raitport

Abstract

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in the pediatric population in the United States. The current standard of care for treating pediatric cancer is traditional: chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. However, these conventional approaches have many unpleasant short-term and long-term side effects and do not offer a genuine cure. Immunotherapy as a cancer treatment is a new approach that has produced very promising results in the pediatric population. Four leading therapies for pediatric cancers are CAR T-cell therapy, oncolytic virotherapy, monoclonal antibody treatments, and cancer vaccines. Some of the therapies have more promising results than others, and different cancers respond differently to immunotherapies. This review critically analyzes, discusses, and compares some of the available and emerging cancer immunotherapies for pediatric patients.

Recommended Citation

Miriam Raitport. (2023). Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Pediatric Cancers: What is the Best Option?. The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences, 17(1), 80-89. Retrieved from https://touroscholar.touro.edu/sjlcas/vol17/iss1/11