Microbeam Radiotherapy—A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Overcome Radioresistance and Enhance Anti-Tumour Response in Melanoma

Trappetti, Verdiana; Fazzari, Jennifer M.; Fernandez-Palomo, Cristian; Scheidegger, Maximilian; Volarevic, Vladislav; Martin, Olga A.; Djonov, Valentin G. (2021). Microbeam Radiotherapy—A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Overcome Radioresistance and Enhance Anti-Tumour Response in Melanoma. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(14) MDPI 10.3390/ijms22147755

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Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, due to its invasiveness and limited treatment efficacy. The main therapy for primary melanoma and solitary organ metastases is wide excision. Adjuvant therapy, such as chemotherapy and targeted therapies are mainly used for disseminated disease. Radiotherapy (RT) is a powerful treatment option used in more than 50% of cancer patients, however, conventional RT alone is unable to eradicate melanoma. Its general radioresistance is attributed to overexpression of repair genes in combination with cascades of biochemical repair mechanisms. A novel sophisticated technique based on synchrotron-generated, spatially fractionated RT, called Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT), has been shown to overcome these treatment limitations by allowing increased dose delivery. With MRT, a collimator subdivides the homogeneous radiation field into an array of co-planar, high-dose microbeams that are tens of micrometres wide and spaced a few hundred micrometres apart. Different preclinical models demonstrated that MRT has the potential to completely ablate tumours, or significantly improve tumour control while dramatically reducing normal tissue toxicity. Here, we discuss the role of conventional RT-induced immunity and the potential for MRT to enhance local and systemic anti-tumour immune responses. Comparative gene expression analysis from preclinical tumour models indicated a specific gene signature for an 'MRT-induced immune effect'. This focused review highlights the potential of MRT to overcome the inherent radioresistance of melanoma which could be further enhanced for future clinical use with combined treatment strategies, in particular, immunotherapy.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Review Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Anatomy
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Anatomy > Topographical and Clinical Anatomy

UniBE Contributor:

Trappetti, Verdiana, Fazzari, Jennifer Michelina, Fernandez Palomo, Cristian Gabriel, Scheidegger, Maximilian, Martin, Olga Alexeevna, Djonov, Valentin Georgiev

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1422-0067

Publisher:

MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

David Christian Haberthür

Date Deposited:

30 Nov 2021 16:12

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:35

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/ijms22147755

PubMed ID:

34299373

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/161287

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/161287

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