Harnessing and Optimizing the Interplay between Immunotherapy and Radiotherapy to Improve Survival Outcomes. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • In the past, radiotherapy was primarily used to control local disease, but recent technological advances in accurate, high-dose ionizing radiation (IR) delivery have not only increased local tumor control but in some cases reduced metastatic burden. These "off target" therapeutic effects of IR at nonirradiated tumor sites, also known as abscopal effects, are thought to be mediated by tumor antigen-primed T cells that travel to metastatic sites and promote tumor regression. Similarly, early indications reveal that IR in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) and nivolumab (anti-PD-1), can provide superior therapeutic responses. These observations suggest that local radiotherapy results in altered gene expression, exposure of new antigens, or cell death that can interact with immunotherapy. As such, radiotherapy enhancement of immune responses offers a promising synergy with the potential for substantial clinical benefit. This review focuses on the biology that underlies the mechanisms for the interaction between radiation-induced tumor cell death and enhanced immunologic response. Mol Cancer Res; 16(8); 1209-14. ©2018 AACR.

publication date

  • March 28, 2018

Research

keywords

  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • Neoplasms

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6072560

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85048164263

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-17-0743

PubMed ID

  • 29592896

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 16

issue

  • 8