HAWTHORN star Jarryd Roughead's cancer treatment known as immunotherapy began on Tuesday.
Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that commonly has far fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy.
However, Roughead is expected to be out of football for at least 12 months while he battles the disease.
The relevant immunotherapy strategy against melanoma is known as 'checkpoint blockade'.
When a normal virus infects a human body, the immune system reacts by activating so-called 'killer cells' that multiply and attack the virus, removing it from the body.
Once the virus has been defeated, the immune system turns off the killer cells and the body returns to normal.
Some cancers are able to switch off the killer cells that would normally defend the body against that cancer.
In the checkpoint blockade strategy, the patient receives an antibody via an intravenous infusion. This antibody prevents the cancer from switching off the killer cells, allowing the body's natural response to fight the disease.
The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre's Dr Mark Shackleton, who is not Roughead's treating doctor, said immunotherapy treatment provided an effective treatment for fighting cancer.
Dr Grant McArthur is Roughead's treating doctor.
"After many years of research globally, including at Peter Mac, immune therapies are now emerging as a highly promising new strategy to combat cancer," Dr Shackleton said.
"These are injectable drugs that harness a patient's own immune system to eliminate cancer cells, and in many cases – but not all – have fewer side effects than traditional drug treatments such as chemotherapy.
"In conjunction with established cancer therapies, immunotherapy provides real hope for more effective treatment of a wide range of cancers, including melanoma."
Roughead's original melanoma, which was removed in June last year, has returned and spread internally.
A biopsy confirmed four small spots on Roughead's lungs were cancerous and the 29-year-old vowed he would return to football after his 12-month treatment is complete.
