Radiotherapy supports protective tumor-specific immunity

Abstract

Radiotherapy is an important therapeutic option for the treatment of cancer. Growing evidence indicates that, besides inducing an irreversible DNA damage, radiotherapy promotes tumor-specific immune response, which significantly contribute to therapeutic efficacy. We postulate that radiotherapy activates tumor-associated dendritic cells, thus changing the tolerogenic tumor environment into an immunogenic one. © 2012 Landes Bioscience.