This immune response is unique because antibodies are specifically programmed to recognize and defend against certain antigens. Antibodies respond to antigens by latching on to, or binding with, antigens, fitting together much the way a key fits a lock. Immune system cells work against disease, including cancer, in a variety of ways. Lymphocytes include B cells, T cells, and NK cells. T cells direct and regulate the immune response by signaling other immune system defenders.
T cells produce proteins called lymphokines, which are one type of cytokine.
Cytokines are powerful chemical substances that control a number of cell activities, including the immune response. Biological therapies used to treat cancer target some of these defenses, boosting, directing, or restoring the body's own cancer-fighting mechanisms. BRMs alter the interaction between the body's immune defenses and cancer, thus improving the body's ability to fight the disease. Scientists can now make BRMs in the laboratory that imitate or influence natural immune response agents. BRMs can play many roles in cancer treatment, including directly inhibiting tumor cell growth and acting indirectly to help healthy cells, particularly immune cells, control cancer.