How collaboration helps cancer patients facing treatment-related autoimmune diseases

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer care, but there can be side effects with the breakthrough treatments. Fortunately for patients, multidisciplinary care can alleviate some of the unwelcome symptoms that can arise from this relatively new class of therapies.

Immunotherapy drugs treat cancer by helping to activate patients’ immune systems to better detect and kill the cancerous cells growing and hiding in their bodies.

However, about “30 to 40 percent of the patients [treated with immunotherapy drugs] develop an autoimmune disease, and that’s where I come in,” says Alexa Meara, MD, a rheumatologist who specializes in treating autoimmune diseases. “It can happen at any point in the treatment, although it’s most common in the first three to six months. It can even happen a year after a patient is off these drugs.”

Meara gives more details about cancer treatment and autoimmune diseases, including innovative therapies at Ohio State, on our Cancer-Free World Podcast. Listen via the video player above, or on SoundCloud.

Patients who receive immunotherapy can develop a number of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis, which can greatly affect their quality of life.

“Every patient is different,” Meara says, adding that symptoms can be minor (a rash or dry eyes) or more serious (inflammation and joint pain).

Click to learn more about immunotherapy for cancer patients at Ohio State.

Meara and her colleagues are addressing these types of issues by through pioneering studies and clinical trials aimed at reducing symptoms.

“This is a really exciting field because it’s so new and it’s so collaborative,” says Meara, who works closely with Ohio State oncologists to treat cancer patients who develop autoimmune symptoms. She is also part of an international consortium that shares ideas and results.

“Helping patients bring back that joy for life” is what motivates Meara. “I’m here for our patients, and at the end of the day, I treat them how I’d want to be treated.”

Click to learn more about cancer clinical trials at the OSUCCC – James.