At Vitus, immunotherapy is recommended as an optional addition to all prostate cancer treatments. When combined with our non-thermal focal therapy techniques, it supports the body’s natural defence mechanisms and promotes more active immune engagement. This approach enhances the immune system’s ability to recognise cancer cells beyond the prostate, providing a more comprehensive immune response than local treatment alone.
The Body’s Immune System
The body’s own immune system is so far the only way to cure cancer. Even when a prostate tumour is successfully removed, microscopic cancer cells may have already moved beyond the prostate. These cells are too small to be seen on imaging and can remain inactive for years before developing into metastases, which are responsible for most prostate cancer related deaths.
For this reason, Vitus focuses on prostate cancer treatments that preserve and support immune function. Traditional whole-gland methods such as surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy can place stress on the immune system, while our minimally invasive focal therapies avoid this and help stimulate immune activity by preserving tumour antigens.
When paired with immunotherapy, this helps the body better identify prostate cancer cells beyond the prostate.
Supporting the Immune System With Focal Therapy
Immunotherapy works by helping the body recognise and fight cancer cells. In prostate cancer, this is more difficult because the tumour is considered a cold tumour. Cold tumours have low immune activity, which means the immune system often does not detect them on its own.
For immunotherapy to work more effectively, the tumour must first become visible to the immune system. Non-thermal focal therapies such as IRE, ECT, and PDT help achieve this by releasing tumour antigens and improving immune recognition.
At Vitus, immunotherapy is used as part of a combined approach that prepares the tumour for immune activation and supports the immune system in detecting cancer cells that lie outside the primary treatment zone.
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How Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy Works
Local Release of Tumour Antigens Through Non-Thermal Focal Therapy
The immune system recognises cancer cells by detecting tumour antigens, which are molecules found on the surface and inside cancer cells. When the prostate tumour is treated with non-thermal focal therapies such as IRE, ECT, or PDT, these antigens are preserved and released into the surrounding tissue.
This release functions much like a vaccination. As tumour antigens become exposed, the immune system gains clearer access to information about the cancer. This helps shift the tumour from a cold tumour with low immune activity to one that is more visible and responsive to immune recognition.
By improving tumour visibility in this way, focal therapy creates the conditions needed for a stronger and more targeted immune response.
Systemic Immunotherapy to Support the Immune Response
Once tumour antigens have been released and immune recognition has improved, systemic immunotherapy can further support the body’s ability to respond to prostate cancer cells. This combined approach is particularly important for addressing cancer cells that may exist outside the prostate, including micrometastases that are too small to be detected on imaging.
At Vitus, systemic immunotherapy often includes medications such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. These treatments block signals that normally slow the immune response, allowing immune cells to react more actively to the antigens released during focal therapy.
Other immune-supporting medications, such as agents that modulate cytokines or enhance antigen presentation, may also be used when appropriate. Each treatment plan is personalized according to diagnostic findings and individual tumour characteristics.
Together, focal therapy and immunotherapy support whole-body immune activity and help the immune system destroy cancer cells as part of Vitus’ focus on long-term cancer control.
The Vitus Immunotherapy Process
Immunotherapy at Vitus follows a personalised approach to help treat prostate cancer. The protocol below reflects a commonly used option for patients who choose full immune support, but timing and medication combinations may vary. Some patients receive the full sequence, while others undergo only selected steps.
Our medical team will recommend the approach best suited to your case.
Approximately two weeks before focal therapy, an immune-priming treatment is administered directly into the prostate or into affected lymph nodes. At Vitus, this typically includes a local injection of docetaxel together with ipilimumab (Yervoy®). This combination increases immune recognition by exposing tumour antigens and activating local immune pathways before the ablation takes place.
One day before the ablation procedure, patients receive a systemic dose of pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) to activate T-cell activity throughout the body. This ensures immune cells are primed and ready once tumour antigens are released during the focal therapy.
Three weeks after ablation, a follow-up pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) dose is administered. This maintains immune activation during the period when any remaining cancer cells are most likely to be detected and eliminated by the immune system.
Combined Immunotherapy and Focal Therapy Options
At Vitus Private Clinic, immunotherapy is integrated with our non-thermal focal therapies to support a stronger whole-body immune response. These treatments work together to enhance immune recognition and help the immune system target cancer cells beyond the primary tumour.
Vitus offers combination protocols refined over more than a decade of clinical experience.
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IRE and Immunotherapy
Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) destroys prostate cancer cells using short electrical pulses while preserving surrounding nerves, vessels, and healthy tissue. Because IRE is non-thermal, tumour antigens remain intact, supporting clearer immune recognition.
Vitus helped pioneer the clinical use of IRE for prostate cancer in collaboration with Professor Boris Rubinsky and has treated more than 2,000 prostate cancer patients with this method. Our experience allows us to treat a broader range of cases than most centres, including focal prostate cancer, intermediate disease, and select advanced prostate cancer cases.
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ECT and Immunotherapy
Electrochemotherapy (ECT) pairs electrical pulses with a low, tumour-directed chemotherapy dose. This improves drug uptake while minimising systemic exposure. ECT preserves important tumour antigens during treatment, helping the immune system better identify tumour cells once immunotherapy is introduced.
ECT is especially helpful for tumours located near sensitive structures where precision and tissue preservation are essential.
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PDT and Immunotherapy
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) uses a light-activated photosensitizer to kill cancer cells through a targeted biochemical reaction. PDT has well-documented immune-stimulating effects and reliably releases tumour antigens during treatment.
When used alongside immunotherapy, PDT helps enhance tumour visibility and supports a more effective systemic immune response.
Benefits of Immunotherapy at Vitus
- Non-thermal focal therapies that release intact tumour antigens for stronger immune activation
- Personalised immunotherapy protocols that support the immune system in targeting micrometastases
- A decade of focal therapy expertise that now supports our integrated immunotherapy approach
- One of the only centres worldwide offering IRE, ECT, PDT, and their immunotherapy integrations for prostate cancer
Frequently Asked Questions
Prostate cancer is a cold tumour, meaning it triggers little to no immune response. On its own, immunotherapy is usually not enough because the immune system does not naturally recognise prostate cancer cells. However, combined with non-thermal focal therapies, Immunotherapy becomes a highly effective and promising treatment approach.
Non-thermal focal therapies such as IRE, ECT, and PDT expose tumour antigens without damaging surrounding tissue. This prepares the immune system to recognise the cancer. Immunotherapy is then used to amplify this response and support whole-body immune activity.
Yes. After tumour antigens are released during focal therapy, immunotherapy can help the immune system identify micrometastases that are too small to be detected on imaging. This systemic immune support is important for long-term cancer control.
Side effects depend on the medication used, but many patients at Vitus experience little to no discomfort. Because we use immunotherapy in short-term, single-dose or limited-dose applications, most of the side effects seen with long-term treatments are avoided.
For many men, immunotherapy combined with focal therapy is a gentler option. It avoids the nerve injury, continence issues, and tissue damage associated with whole-gland surgery or radiation, helping preserve urinary and sexual function.
It can in select cases. When non-thermal focal therapy exposes tumour antigens, the immune system may better recognise remaining cancer cells, including those involved in castration-resistant disease. Suitability depends on MRI findings, prior treatments, and individual tumour biology.
You may be a candidate if you have localised, recurrent, or metastatic prostate cancer. Eligibility depends on MRI results, biopsy findings, and overall tumour characteristics. Our team can review your diagnostics to determine whether this treatment approach is appropriate. Contact us for more information →