The use of radiofrequency ablation in pancreatic cancer in the midst of the dawn of immuno-oncology

Abstract

Despite significant improvement in treatment, the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains poor as the biology of the tumour affects survival even when a radical resection has been performed. Pancreatic cancer remains resistant to currently available chemotherapeutic options. Recently, immunotherapy has achieved significant results in certain types of cancer. However, for pancreatic cancer, results were not initially encouraging as pancreatic cancer microenvironment is highly immunosuppressive. Radiofrequency ablation is currently used as treatment option especially for liver cancer with significant results. However, in pancreatic cancer, the use of radiofrequency ablation is relatively new. Radiofrequency ablation has been identified as a promising mechanism to induce antigen-presenting cell infiltration and enhance systemic antitumour T-cell immune response and tumour regression. In this short communication, we briefly review the role of radiofrequency ablation in pancreatic cancer and explore the idea that the combination of radiofrequency ablation with immunotherapy could represent a novel and promising treatment.