Effect of radiotherapy on T cell and PD-1 / PD-L1 blocking therapy in tumor microenvironment

ABSTRACT

Cancer is a worldwide problem that threatens human health. Radiotherapy plays an important role in a variety of cancer treatment methods. The administration of radiotherapy can alter the differentiation pathways and functions of T cells, which in turn improves the immune response of T cells. Radiotherapy can also induce up-regulation of PD-L1 expression, which means that it has great potential for enhancing the therapeutic effect of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and reducing the risk of drug resistance toward them. At present, the combination of radiotherapy and anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors has shown significant therapeutic effects in clinical tumor research. This review focuses on the mechanism of radiotherapy on T cells reported in recent years, as well as related research progress in the application of PD-1/PD-L1 blockers. It will provide a theoretical basis for the rational clinical application of radiotherapy combined with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors.

KEYWORDS:

• Radiotherapy
• t cell
• cd4-CD8
• pd-1/PD-L1
• immune resistance

Author contributions

Liu Yanlong and Chen Chen made substantial contributions to the conception and design of this study. Chen Chen wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors made substantial contributions to the acquisition or analysis of data used in this article. Cui Binbin revised the manuscript for the purpose of important intellectual content.

Disclosure of potential conlficts of interest

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest. All authors approve of this manuscript.

Ethical approval and ethical standards

The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This study does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent is not required for this study.