A new twist on radiation oncology: low-dose irradiation elicits immunostimulatory macrophages that unlock barriers to tumor immunotherapy.
Tumor-infiltrating macrophages typically promote angiogenesis while suppressing antitumoral T cell responses. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Klug and colleagues report that clinically-feasible, low-dose irradiation redirects macrophage differentiation from a tumor-promoting/immunosuppressive state to one that enables cytotoxic T cells to infiltrate tumors and kill cancer cells, rendering immunotherapy successful in mice.
The Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC), School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Michele
M
De Palma
George
G
Coukos
Douglas
D
Hanahan
D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007340:Insulinoma / Q000628:therapy*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology*; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II / Q000378:metabolism*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*
C496319:NOS2 protein, human; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II