1. Trial Watch: Immunotherapy plus radiation therapy for oncological indications
- Author
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Guido Kroemer, Norma Bloy, Radek Spisek, Jérôme Galon, Fernando Aranda, Erika Vacchelli, Jitka Fucikova, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Laurence Zitvogel, Alexander M.M. Eggermont, Eric Tartour, Wolf Hervé Fridman, Isabelle Cremer, Sandra Demaria, Silvia C. Formenti, and Aitziber Buqué
- Subjects
business.industry ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Immunotherapy ,Pembrolizumab ,Review ,Acquired immune system ,Oncolytic virus ,Radiation therapy ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Oncology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Adjuvanticity ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Immunogenic cell death ,Nivolumab ,business ,030215 immunology - Abstract
Malignant cells succumbing to some forms of radiation therapy are particularly immunogenic and hence can initiate a therapeutically relevant adaptive immune response. This reflects the intrinsic antigenicity of malignant cells (which often synthesize a high number of potentially reactive neo-antigens) coupled with the ability of radiation therapy to boost the adjuvanticity of cell death as it stimulates the release of endogenous adjuvants from dying cells. Thus, radiation therapy has been intensively investigated for its capacity to improve the therapeutic profile of several anticancer immunotherapies, including (but not limited to) checkpoint blockers, anticancer vaccines, oncolytic viruses, Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, cytokines, and several small molecules with immunostimulatory effects. Here, we summarize recent preclinical and clinical advances in this field of investigation.
- Published
- 2016