How Do Cancer Treatments Contribute to Immune Suppression?
While treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are designed to kill cancer cells, they can also inadvertently harm healthy immune cells. Chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells, which include not only cancer cells but also immune cells in the bone marrow. Radiation therapy can damage the thymus and other organs involved in the immune response. As a result, these treatments often lead to a temporary or prolonged state of immunosuppression.
