Cancer Cell International (Aug 2024)

Locoregional therapies combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors for liver metastases

  • Xing-Chen Zhang,
  • Yu-Wen Zhou,
  • Gui-Xia Wei,
  • Yi-Qiao Luo,
  • Meng Qiu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-024-03484-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have achieved remarkable success in clinical research and practice. Notably, liver metastasis is not sensitive to ICIs. Liver locoregional therapies can cause irreversible damage to tumor cells and release tumor antigens, thereby providing a rationale for immunotherapy treatments in liver metastasis. The combination therapy of ICIs with locoregional therapies is a promising option for patients with liver metastasis. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that combining ICIs with locoregional therapies produces a significantly synergistic anti-tumor effect. However, the current evidence for the efficacy of ICIs combined with locoregional therapies remains insufficient. Therefore, we review the literature on the mechanisms of locoregional therapies in treating liver metastasis and the clinical research progress of their combination with ICIs.

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