A future directions of renal cell carcinoma treatment: combination of immune checkpoint inhibition and carbon ion radiotherapy

Zhouhang Zheng; Tianci Yang; Yixuan Li; Pei Qu; Zhiang Shao; Yuan Wang; Wei Chang; Shahzad Muhammad Umar; Jufang Wang; Nan Ding; Wei Wang

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1428584

A future directions of renal cell carcinoma treatment: combination of immune checkpoint inhibition and carbon ion radiotherapy

Front Immunol. 2024 Jul 18:15:1428584. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1428584. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Zhouhang Zheng^{1

2}, Tianci Yang^{1

2}, Yixuan Li^{1

2}, Pei Qu^{2

3}, Zhiang Shao^{2

3}, Yuan Wang^{2

3}, Wei Chang¹, Shahzad Muhammad Umar¹, Jufang Wang^{2

3}, Nan Ding^{2

3}, Wei Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, The Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
² Key Laboratory of Space Radiobiology of Gansu Province & Key Laboratory of Heavy Ion Radiation Biology and Medicine of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
³ College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is considered radio- and chemo-resistant. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated significant clinical efficacy in advanced RCC. However, the overall response rate of RCC to monotherapy remains limited. Given its immunomodulatory effects, a combination of radiotherapy (RT) with immunotherapy is increasingly used for cancer treatment. Heavy ion radiotherapy, specifically the carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT), represents an innovative approach to cancer treatment, offering superior physical and biological effectiveness compared to conventional photon radiotherapy and exhibiting obvious advantages in cancer treatment. The combination of CIRT and immunotherapy showed robust effectiveness in preclinical studies of various tumors, thus holds promise for overcoming radiation resistance of RCC and enhancing therapeutic outcomes. Here, we provide a comprehensive review on the biophysical effects of CIRT, the efficacy of combination treatment and the underlying mechanisms involved in, as well as its therapeutic potential specifically within RCC.

Keywords: carbon ion radiotherapy; combination therapy; immunotherapy; radiotherapy; renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* / immunology
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* / radiotherapy
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* / therapy
Combined Modality Therapy
Heavy Ion Radiotherapy*
Humans
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors* / therapeutic use
Immunotherapy / methods
Kidney Neoplasms* / immunology
Kidney Neoplasms* / radiotherapy
Kidney Neoplasms* / therapy

Substances

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Gansu Provincial Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (22JR5RA942), CuiYing Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University (CY2023–MS–A03), the Natural Science Foundation of China (12175289 and 12275329), the West Light Foundation of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (xbzglzb2022003), the Science and Technology Research Project of Gansu Province (21JR7RA107 and 22JR5RA1009), Lanzhou Science and Technology Plan Project (2023–2–43), the scientific research project of health industry of Gansu province (GSWSKY2020-10), Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Project of Lanzhou University Medical Center (lzuyxcx–2022–96), Lanzhou university education teaching reform research key project (202328), the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training plan for college students in 2024 (202410730002).