Systemic Immunostimulatory Effects of Radiation Therapy Improves the Outcomes of Patients With Advanced NSCLC Receiving Immunotherapy

This article provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of the clinical experience using radiation therapy in combination with immune therapy and discusses the rationale for integrating these 2 modalities in the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Available data supports the use of radiation therapy in combination with immunotherapy to achieve improved local and systemic tumor control. Evidence from the early clinical trials has shown that using radiation therapy and immune checkpoint blockade therapies together produces a greater clinical effect than using either modality alone. To maximize the clinical benefit and successful integration of these two modalities as well as optimizing radiation therapy dosing and its schedule, improvement in its field design and the development of reliable predictors of clinical tumor response needs to be established.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Review Article Source Type: research