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Abscopal, immunological effects of radiotherapy: Narrowing the gap between clinical and preclinical experiences
Author(s) -
Brix Nikko,
Tiefenthaller Anna,
Anders Heike,
Belka Claus,
Lauber Kirsten
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
immunological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.839
H-Index - 223
eISSN - 1600-065X
pISSN - 0105-2896
DOI - 10.1111/imr.12573
Subject(s) - abscopal effect , radiation therapy , medicine , immune system , systemic therapy , immunotherapy , immunology , cancer , breast cancer
Summary Radiotherapy—despite being a local therapy that meanwhile is characterized by an impressively high degree of spatial accuracy—can stimulate systemic phenomena which occasionally lead to regression and rejection of non‐irradiated, distant tumor lesions. These abscopal effects of local irradiation have been observed in sporadic clinical case reports since the beginning of the 20th century, and extensive preclinical work has contributed to identify systemic anti‐tumor immune responses as the underlying driving forces. Although abscopal tumor regression still remains a rare event in the radiotherapeutic routine, increasing numbers of cases are being reported, particularly since the clinical implementation of immune checkpoint inhibiting agents. Accordingly, interests to systematically exploit the therapeutic potential of radiotherapy‐stimulated systemic responses are constantly growing. The present review briefly delineates the history of radiotherapy‐induced abscopal effects and the activation of systemic anti‐tumor immune responses by local irradiation. We discuss preclinical and clinical reports with specific focus on the corresponding controversies, and we propose issues that should be addressed in the future in order to narrow the gap between preclinical knowledge and clinical experiences.

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