Realistic biological approaches for improving thermoradiotherapy

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiation Oncology
• Cancer Biology

Background:

• Clinical evidence confirms hyperthermia improves radiation therapy for specific human tumors.
• Further enhancements in thermoradiotherapy efficacy are biologically achievable by targeting cellular or vascular tumor components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review clinically relevant biological strategies for enhancing thermoradiotherapy.
• To discuss the potential of these strategies for clinical application and suggest future research directions.

Main Methods:

• Review of preclinical and clinical studies on biological approaches combined with hyperthermia and/or radiation.
• Analysis of strategies targeting DNA repair, drug delivery (nanoparticles), immunotherapy, tumor pH, and vascular modification.
• Evaluation of normal tissue response data for combined treatments.

Main Results:

• Preclinical models demonstrate benefits of combining hyperthermia or radiation with various biological strategies.
• Limited clinical translation of these combined approaches, particularly with thermoradiotherapy.
• Few studies have assessed normal tissue responses, which are critical for treatment optimization.

Conclusions:

• Biological targeting of tumor cellular or vascular components offers significant potential to improve thermoradiotherapy.
• Clinical translation requires further investigation into combined modalities and rigorous normal tissue studies.
• Moving promising strategies into the clinic necessitates a focus on clinically relevant biological enhancements.