Immunological aspects of local radiotherapy: clinical relevance.
Standard anti-cancer therapeutic modalities like chemotherapy and radiotherapy evoke host's reactions that include involvement of the immune system. Elucidation of these mechanisms offers the double advantage of enabling a more rational choice of cytotoxic therapy and exploring the combination with immunotherapy. Radiotherapy, a well established local anti-cancer approach, is a particularly interesting partner for immunotherapy, since it can be harnessed to specifically modify the immunogenicity of the primary tumor and its microenvironment, in the attempt to generate an in situ immunization of the host against a patient's own cancer.
Formenti
Silvia C
SC
Department of Radiation Oncology, New York University School of Medicine and NYU Cancer Center, 560 First Avenue, New York, New York 11016, USA. Silvia.Formenti@nyumc.org
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D016923:Cell Death; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000528:radiation effects*; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome