Laser ablation: Heating up the anti-tumor response in the intracranial compartment

Immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI), have had limited success in treating intracranial malignancies. These failures are due partly to the restrictive blood-brain-barrier (BBB), the profound tumor-dependent induction of local and systemic immunosuppression, and immune evasion exhibited by these tumors. Therefore, novel approaches must be explored that aim to overcome these stringent barriers.LITT is an emerging treatment for brain tumors that utilizes thermal ablation to kill tumor cells. LITT provides an additional therapeutic benefit by synergizing with ICI and systemic chemotherapies to strengthen the anti-tumor immune response. This synergistic relationship involves transient disruption of the BBB and local augmentation of immune function, culminating in increased CNS drug penetrance and improved anti-tumor immunity.In this review, we will provide an overview of the challenges facing immunotherapy for brain tumors, and discuss how LITT may synergize with the endogenous anti-tumor response to improve the efficacy of ICI.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Immunotherapies have limited success in treating intracranial malignancies due to barriers like BBB and tumor-induced immunosuppression. LITT is an emerging treatment that synergizes with ICI to enhance anti-tumor immune response by disrupting BBB and boosting immune function locally.