AUTHOR=Kaur Punit , Asea Alexzander 

TITLE=Radiation-induced effects and the immune system in cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2012

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2012.00191

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2012.00191

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are standard therapeutic modalities for patients with cancers, and could induce various tumor cell death modalities, releasing tumor derived antigens as well as danger signals that could either be captured for triggering antitumor immune response. Historic studies examining tissue and cellular responses to radiation therapy have predominantly focused on damage caused to proliferating malignant cells leading to their death. However, there is increasing evidence that radiation therapy also leads to significant alterations in the tumor microenvironment, particularly with respect to effects on immune cells and infiltrating tumors. This review will focus on immunologic consequences of radiation therapy and discuss the therapeutic reprogramming of immune responses in tumors and how it regulates efficacy and durability to radiation therapy.