1. Radiation therapy and immunotherapy: what is the optimal timing or sequencing?
- Author
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Clark Anderson, Lakshmi Mahadevan, Kathryn E. Aziz, Hampartsoum B. Barsoumian, Sunil Krishnan, James W. Welsh, Ahmed I. Younes, Bhanu Prasad Venkatesulu, Melinda Soeung, Jonathan E. Schoenhals, and Maureen Aliru
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Oncology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Combination therapy ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Treatment outcome ,Review ,Immune tolerance ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Immune system ,Clinical Protocols ,Cancer immunotherapy ,Neoplasms ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,business.industry ,Immunotherapy ,Radiation therapy ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,Tumor progression ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,business - Abstract
Radiotherapy is a component of the standard of care for many patients with locally advanced nonmetastatic tumors and increasingly those with oligometastatic tumors. Despite encouraging advances in local control and progression-free and overall survival outcomes, continued manifestation of tumor progression or recurrence leaves room for improvement in therapeutic efficacy. Novel combinations of radiation with immunotherapy have shown promise in improving outcomes and reducing recurrences by overcoming tumor immune tolerance and evasion mechanisms via boosting the immune system's ability to recognize and eradicate tumor cells. In this review, we discuss preclinical and early clinical evidence that radiotherapy and immunotherapy can improve treatment outcomes for locally advanced and metastatic tumors, elucidate underlying molecular mechanisms and address strategies to optimize timing and sequencing of combination therapy for maximal synergy.
- Published
- 2018