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World J Gastroenterol. Mar 14, 2021; 27(10): 919-927
Published online Mar 14, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i10.919
Radiotherapy as an immune checkpoint blockade combination strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma
Byung Min Lee, Jinsil Seong
Byung Min Lee, Jinsil Seong, Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, South Korea
Author contributions: Lee BM prepared the manuscript; Seong J conceptualized the manuscript, reviewed the manuscript
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Jinsil Seong, MD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, South Korea. jsseong@yuhs.ac
Received: January 5, 2021
Peer-review started: January 5, 2021
First decision: January 17, 2021
Revised: January 29, 2021
Accepted: February 28, 2021
Article in press: February 28, 2021
Published online: March 14, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Immune modulatory effect of radiation is highlighted as a combination strategy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. This strategy has been actively adopted in most solid cancers. Although it is in relatively early stage for hepatocellular carcinoma, accumulated evidence drives clinical trials on testing its efficacy. Still, there remain several challenges to overcome for the best oncologic outcome.