Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2018; 10(9): 221-227
Published online Sep 15, 2018. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i9.221
Immune blockade inhibitors and the radiation abscopal effect in gastrointestinal cancers
Ioannis A Voutsadakis
Ioannis A Voutsadakis, Algoma District Cancer Program, Sault Area Hospital, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6B 0A8, Canada
Ioannis A Voutsadakis, Section of Internal Medicine, Division of Clinical Sciences, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada
Author contributions: Voutsadakis IA is the sole contributor in this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflicts of interest regarding this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ioannis A Voutsadakis, MD, PhD, Doctor, Algoma District Cancer Program, Sault Area Hospital, 750 Great Northern Road, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6B 0A8, Canada. ivoutsadakis@yahoo.com
Telephone: +1-705-7593434 Fax: +1-705-7593815
Received: July 17, 2018
Peer-review started: July 17, 2018
First decision: August 8, 2018
Revised: August 13, 2018
Accepted: August 27, 2018
Article in press: August 28, 2018
Published online: September 15, 2018
Processing time: 60 Days and 17.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Immune checkpoint inhibitors activate the immune response to tumors by blocking inhibitory receptor pairs. Radiation treatment may also promote anti-tumor immune response. Thus, there exist an opportunity for synergy between the two treatment modalities that may be exploited therapeutically in gastrointestinal and other cancers.