Yasmina Kattou 10:26 a.m., February 04, 2022

On the occasion of World Cancer Day, Europe 1 is talking to you today about a revolutionary treatment that could reinvigorate the way doctors treat cancer: immunotherapy.

A promising technique that allows the immune system to defend itself against cancer cells.

Each year on average, more than 380,000 new cancer patients are registered in France.

This Friday, February 4 is World Cancer Day.

On this occasion, Europe 1 wishes to highlight a treatment that is gaining momentum: immunotherapy.

A technique that stimulates the immune system to defend itself against cancer cells.

>> READ ALSO -

 Cancer Day: why will cases increase due to the pandemic?

Immunotherapy makes it possible to double life expectancy and even to control the disease, especially for so-called “poor prognosis” cancers, whose survival 5 years after diagnosis is less than or equal to 20%.

Immunotherapy, "elixir of life" for some patients

When Claude was diagnosed with triple negative, incurable breast cancer, her chances of survival were 14 months.

It was in 2018. After ineffective chemotherapy, immunotherapy saved the life of this 52-year-old computer scientist.

“Today, my only handicap in relation to the disease is fatigue. I no longer have the other side effects of chemotherapy-based treatments. It has been two years since I received an immunotherapy injection every 15 days, I gained two years with a stable disease. I call it my elixir of life", she explains.

>> READ ALSO -

 Breast cancer: how to prevent and detect the disease?

For now, this treatment is reserved for certain patients with cancer of the pancreas, liver or lung.

For these pathologies, immunotherapy has multiplied the very low chances of survival for patients, explains Professor Marie Wislez, pneumo-oncologist at Cochin Hospital: "Among smokers the prognosis remained very poor. There, people treated with immunotherapy alone, a third of them are alive at five years old. It's huge! Some of them have gone into remission after immunotherapy and the disease has not returned!"

Faced with these spectacular results, the pneumo-oncologist hopes that research will make it possible to extend this treatment to more and more patients.