Immunotherapy is a pioneering treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight off cancer. But some cells, like cancerous ones, are able to hide themselves from the immune system, and so develop into tumours. Traditional cancer drugs target the cancer cells themselves, but immunotherapy reawakens the immune system so it can 'remember' the cancer and stop it in its tracks. Mrs Sheppard, a married mother-of-three from Nottingham, was diagnosed with the rare form of cancer in 2015. Jane Lynch, senior lung clinical nurse specialist and respiratory service lead, said that before the treatment Mrs Sheppard could 'barely get out of the chair'.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 14, 2017 01:50 UTC