Radiation therapy appears to increase or upregulate the expression of genes with mutations that induce an immune response to malignant cells, according to preclinical research by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.
Combining radiation with an immune system-boosting therapy called ipilimumab led to regression of metastatic tumors not targeted by the radiation in lung cancer patients, according to results of an early clinical trial led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.
An enzyme implicated in autoimmune diseases and viral infections also regulates radiation therapy’s ability to trigger an immune response against cancer.
