Optimizing radiotherapy with immunotherapeutic approaches

Jonathan E. Schoenhals, Tijana Skrepnik, Ugur Selek, Maria A. Cortez, Ailin Li, James W. Welsh

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Several factors must be considered to successfully integrate immunotherapy with radiation into clinical practice. One such factor is that concepts arising from preclinical work must be tested in combination with radiation in preclinical models to better understand how combination therapy will work in patients; examples include checkpoint inhibitors, tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-β) inhibitors, and natural killer (NK) cell therapy. Also, many radiation fields and fractionation schedules typically used in radiation therapy had been standardized before the introduction of advanced techniques for radiation planning and delivery that account for changes in tumor size, location, and motion during treatment, as well as uncertainties introduced by variations in patient setup between treatment fractions. As a result, radiation therapy may involve the use of large treatment volumes, often encompassing nodal regions that may not be irradiated with more conformal techniques. Traditional forms of radiation in particular pose challenges for combination trials with immunotherapy. This chapter explores these issues in more detail and provides insights as to how radiation therapy can be optimized to combine with immunotherapy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
PublisherSpringer New York LLC
Pages53-71
Number of pages19
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Publication series

NameAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
Volume995
ISSN (Print)0065-2598
ISSN (Electronic)2214-8019

Keywords

  • CD8+ T-cell
  • CTLA4
  • Clinical trial
  • Immunotherapy
  • PD1
  • Radiation
  • SABR
  • SBRT
  • TGF-β

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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