Systemic anti-cancer therapies

After surgery or radiotherapy to target any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of the cancer returning.

Before surgery to reduce the size of the tumour.

To control cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, aiming to prolong life and reduce symptoms.

Systemic anti-cancer therapies can also be used to prevent cancer developing in high-risk individuals. For example if you have a precancerous condition or a strong family history of certain cancers.

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells or control their growth. Depending on which type of chemotherapy you have been prescribed, these drugs can be given intravenously (into your bloodstream), orally (in tablet form) or through an injection. A single chemotherapy drug may be given, or several different chemotherapy drugs may be given together. The type and combination recommended to you will depend on your individual diagnosis.

Targeted therapies are drugs which specifically ‘target’ certain characteristics of cancer cells which are involved in tumour growth and progression. Because of this very focused approach targeted therapies are sometimes called precision medicine. Some targeted drugs might also be called immunotherapies or biological therapies.

Targeted therapies differ from chemotherapies, where chemotherapy affects both cancerous and healthy cells, targeted therapy aims to ‘target’ cancer cells more precisely, minimising damage to healthy cells and reducing side effects.

At HCA UK our experts can provide a comprehensive range of targeted therapies, including:

Monoclonal antibodies (MABs): All cells have receptors on their surface, these receptors receive signals from the body. Monoclonal antibodies are designed to connect with specific receptors that are mainly found on the surface of cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies can then block signals to cancer cells so that they cannot grow or develop, they can also harness the body’s natural immune defence helping the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies can carry specific drugs directly to cancer cells.There are many different MABS used to treat cancer, the type recommended to you will depend on your individual diagnosis.

• Cancer growth blockers Cancer growth blockers, also known as cancer growth inhibitors, blocks a chemical signal in the body that tells cancer cells how to develop and divide. When this signal is blocked these cells find it difficult to grow and divide, which can slow down the growth of cancer. There are many different cancer growth inhibitors used to treat cancer, the type recommended to you will depend on your individual diagnosis.
• Checkpoint inhibitors
  Some cancers produce a high level of proteins, these proteins can block the immune system from attacking cancer cells, by essentially ‘turning off’ our T cells. Checkpoint inhibitors block these proteins, ‘turning on’ the immune system and allowing our T cells to recognise and attack cancer cells.
• Anti angiogenics
  Anti angiogenics target the blood supply that a tumour needs to survive, they do this by blocking the body’s chemical signals that cells use to make blood vessels grow. This makes it difficult for a tumour to develop the blood vessels it needs to survive and grow.
• PARP inhibitors
  PARPs (poly-ADP ribose polymerase) are proteins that help damaged cells to repair themselves. PARP inhibitors block these proteins from working as they normally would, so that cancer cells become more damaged and are destroyed.

If your consultant and medical team recommend targeted therapy as part of your treatment plan, they will explain which type of therapy they recommend and why. Along with your Clinical Nurse Specialist they will be able to answer any questions you may have, so that you can make an informed decision about your treatment.

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment which helps our immune system recognise and destroy cancer cells. It works by boosting or modifying the body's natural defences to recognise and attack the disease more effectively.

Immunotherapies can be used alone or in combination with other therapies, such as chemotherapy and targeted therapy. At HCA UK our experts can provide a comprehensive range of immunotherapies, as well as access to the latest and most innovative treatments, including:

• Monoclonal antibodies (MABs)
  There are some MABs which influence the immune system, so as well as being classed as a targeted cancer drug, they are also a type of immunotherapy.
  All cells have receptors on their surface, these receptors receive signals from the body. Monoclonal antibodies are designed to connect with specific receptors that are mainly found on the surface of cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies can then block signals to cancer cells so that they cannot grow or develop, they can also harness the body’s natural immune defence helping the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Some monoclonal antibodies can carry specific drugs directly to cancer cells.


• Adoptive cell therapy
  Adoptive cell therapy involves collecting immune cells, such as T cells, from a patient, modifying or activating them in the laboratory to enhance their ability to target cancer cells, and then reinfusing them back into the patient.
  One example of adoptive cell therapy is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (link), used to treat certain types of blood cancer. CAR T-cell therapy modifies your T-cells to express receptors that recognise specific proteins on cancer cells. These receptors bind to the cancer cells and destroy them.


• Bispecific antibodies
  Bispecific antibodies work in a similar way to normal antibodies, by binding to proteins on the surface of cells. However bispecific antibodies are manufactured in a lab and are able to bind to proteins on two types of cells, cancer cells and normal T-cells. This will allow your T-cells to come into close contact with cancer cells and allow them to recognise and destroy them.


• Cancer Treatment Vaccines
  Cancer treatment vaccines are a new and emerging type of immunotherapy. These vaccines are customised for using your own immune cells to target specific proteins in cancer cells, or a combination of immune cells and your tumour cells, to activate an immune response. At HCA Healthcare UK we are earlier adopters of these new breakthrough therapies. Your consultant will be able to discuss treatment vaccines with you and if these could be a potential treatment option.

This is just an example of some of the immunotherapies available at HCA Healthcare UK. If your consultant and medical team recommend immunotherapy as part of your treatment plan, they will explain which type of therapy you will receive and answer any questions you may have, so that you can make an informed decision about your treatment plan.

Hormone therapy is used to treat cancers that are hormone-sensitive, such as certain types of breast and prostate cancer. It works by either blocking the body's natural hormones from reaching cancer cells or by interfering with the production of hormones in the body. By depriving cancer cells of the hormones, they need to grow, hormone therapy can help slow or stop the growth of hormone-sensitive tumours.