immunotherapy

American  

[im-yuh-noh-ther-uh-pee, ih-myoo-] / ˌɪm jə noʊˈθɛr ə pi, ɪˌmju- /

noun

• immunotherapies
  plural

1. treatment designed to produce immunity to a disease or enhance the resistance of the immune system to an active disease process, as cancer.

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immunotherapy British  

/ ˌɪmjʊnəʊˈθɛrəpɪ /

noun

1. med the treatment of disease by stimulating the body's production of antibodies

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• immunotherapeutic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• immunotherapies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of immunotherapy

First recorded in 1905–10; immuno- + therapy

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

immunotherapy immunotherapies

Moderna has been testing the personalized cancer vaccine in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda in patients with later-stage melanoma who have undergone surgery.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

Later, Moshiri was able to get on an immunotherapy treatment called interferon through the NHS, and after some tweaks, she says she is in a better place.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

But in 2018 Trump signed the Right to Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients to access certain experimental drugs and immunotherapy treatments that have not received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

In the spring of 2016, Bancel and Hoge traveled to New Jersey to pitch Roger Perlmutter, then in charge of research at Merck, the maker of one of the most successful cancer immunotherapy drugs, Keytruda.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

Its effects became even stronger when researchers combined it with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Much of this progress stems from improved medical treatments—e.g., statins, immunotherapies, GLP-1s—disease screenings and less tobacco use.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Many patients with metastatic melanoma don’t respond to, or develop resistance to, other front-line immunotherapies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Diagnosis can then be matched to newly available immunotherapies that dissolve amyloid plaques in the brain and slow the overall course by approximately 30%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

This differs from many existing immunotherapies, which often require doctors to collect and customize each patient's own immune cells before treatment.

From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026

Many modern cancer immunotherapies rely on genetic engineering to permanently modify immune cells.

From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026