Radiochemotherapy in Multimodal Cancer Therapy

The resistance mechanisms and dynamic adaptation of cancer cells to therapeutic intervention severely compromise patient prognosis. Hence, combination therapies consisting of surgery, conventional radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy are the standard of care for treatment of the primary and secondary disease. While surgery combined with radiation therapy and chemotherapy is one of the most common therapeutic scenarios since decades, the growing understanding of the molecular mechanisms and the role of the tumor micro- and macroenvironment constantly drives the development of novel therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy and molecular targeted agents, which emerge as significant key combined-modality measures. These targeted therapies are aimed at specific molecules and cellular subpopulations that are characterized by an aberrant and tumor-promoting activity. In combination with radio(chemo)therapy, immunotherapy and molecular targeted agents offer the opportunity to significantly improve patient outcome by reducing tumor resistance and adaptation on the cellular as well as micro- and macroenvironmental level. It is generally accepted that such combined, tumor- and patient-tailored treatment schemes have a great potential to improve patient prognosis, enhance cure rates and diminish therapeutic side effects in the future. Thus, understanding the adaptive response of tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment to novel approaches specifically combined with radio(chemo)therapy is required for optimizing future therapeutic concepts and their clinical application.

This Research Topic aims to highlight biological, preclinical and clinical aspects of the response of tumors and their micro- and macroenvironment to multi-targeting strategies involving radio(chemo)therapy. A discussion of concepts including molecular targeted therapeutics and immunotherapy that increase tumor susceptibility to conventional radio(chemo)therapy is warranted.

We welcome Original Research, timely Review, Mini-Review, and Case Report articles that highlight the following research areas:
1) Combination of radio(chemo)therapy together with molecular therapeutics;
2) Combination of radio(chemo)therapy with immunotherapeutic approaches;
3) Combination of targeted approaches and immunotherapeutics with radio(chemo)therapy.

The main prerequisite is to show how these novel therapeutic approaches synergize with conventional radio- and chemotherapy to increase treatment efficiency and to discuss potential clinical applications of these multimodal approaches.