AUTHOR=De La Cruz-Merino Luis , Illescas Vacas Ana , Grueso López Ana , Barco Sánchez Antonio , Míguez Sánchez Carlos , Cancer Immunotherapies Spanish Group On behalf of 

TITLE=Radiation for awakening the dormant immune system, a promising challenge to explore

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2014

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2014.00102

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2014.00102

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=Recent advances in our understanding of biology and immunology as related to cancer show that infiltrated immune cells and cytokines in the tumor microenvironment may play different functions that appear tightly related with clinical outcomes. Strategies aimed at interfering with the cross-talk between tumor cells and their cellular partners in the microenvironment have been considered for the development of new immunotherapies that target different cell components of the tumor microenvironment. Importantly, these novel therapies may be coupled and boosted with classical treatments, such as radiotherapy. In this work, we try to summarize the recent data on the impact of radiation therapy of the microenvironment, from preclinical research to the clinic, whilst taking into account that this new knowledge will probably translate into a change in the indications and objectives of radiation therapy in the next future.