Immunotherapy for Cervical Cancer

Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to stimulate a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively. Immunotherapy can be used to treat cervical cancer that has spread or come back (recurred).

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

An important part of the immune system is its ability to keep itself from attacking the body's normal cells. To do this, it uses “checkpoints” – molecules on immune cells that need to be turned on (or off) to start an immune response. Cancer cells sometimes use these checkpoints to avoid being attacked by the immune system. But newer drugs that target these checkpoints hold a lot of promise as cancer treatments.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) targets PD-1, a protein on immune system cells called T cells that normally helps keep these cells from attacking other cells in the body. By blocking PD-1, these drugs boost the immune response against cancer cells. This can shrink some tumors or slow their growth.

Pembrolizumab can be used in women with certain types of cervical cancer whose cancer starts growing again after chemotherapy or that has spread.  

This immunotherapy drug is given as an intravenous (IV) infusion every 3 weeks.

Possible side effects

Side effects of these drugs can include fatigue, fever, nausea, headache, skin rash, loss of appetite, constipation, joint/muscle pain, and diarrhea.

Other, more serious side effects occur less often. These drugs work by basically removing the brakes on the body’s immune system. Sometimes the immune system starts attacking other parts of the body, which can cause serious or even life-threatening problems in the lungs, intestines, liver, hormone-making glands, kidneys, or other organs.

It’s very important to report any new side effects to your health care team right away. If you do have a serious side effects, treatment may need to be stopped and you may be given high doses of corticosteroids to suppress your immune system.