Adjuvant immunotherapy

Adjuvant immunotherapies are substances that are either used alone, or in combination with other immunotherapies, to improve their response.

How do adjuvant immunotherapies work?

Some adjuvant immunotherapies use ‘ligands’ to boost immune responses. Ligands are molecules that can bind to protein receptors on cells, with names such as ‘toll-like receptors (TLRs)’. These are molecules that are used to boost the body’s immune response. They have shown some effectiveness in brain, kidney, lung, colon, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian and breast cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitors come under this broad category.

Adjuvant immunotherapies hope to improve responses to cancer vaccines that use T-cells or other immune cells.

Make the right choices for you

Our Step by Step interactive guide outlines what happens following a brain tumour diagnosis. It also answers your questions and helps you to understand what to expect.

Read our guide