Research progress on stereotactic radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy for malignancies

Abstract

Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are three traditional treatments for malignant tumors. With the development of medicine, immunotherapy has been gradually adopted as an emerging therapy of malignancies. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy can induce the abscopal effect and improve the prognosis of patients. Compared with the conventional radiotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy has a larger single dose and higher accuracy, which is more likely to induce the bystander effect and anti-tumor response. The combination of stereotactic radiotherapy and immunotherapy has been proven to be a more promising therapy in certain clinical trials. However, not all types of tumors can benefit from such combined therapy in clinical practice. The optimal dose, fraction pattern and lesion of radiotherapy, immune enhancement and safety remain to be further clarified. In this article, the research progress, related controversies and future research direction of stereotactic radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy for malignancies were reviewed. Key words: Malignant neoplasms/stereotactic radiotherapy; Malignant neoplasms/immunotherapy; Research progress