Revisiting the Abscopal Effect

摘要

Radiation therapy has been used as a cancer treatment for more than 100 years. This form of localized treatment eradicates disease by destroying a cell's DNA. Radiation is used to treat more than half of all cancer cases and can be prescribed with a curative, palliative, or prophylactic intent. In 1953, Dr RH Mole recognized a phenomenon he called the abscopal effect. The Latin-derived word breaks down to ab, which means away from, and scopus, which translates to target. The abscopal effect explains observed systemic effects of radiation therapy to lesions located outside of the local treatment target. Despite the rarity of this phenomenon in the past and its unknown mechanism of action, researchers are revisiting this idea in combination with immunotherapy to enhance the abscopal effect in treating primary and metastatic lesions.