Abscopal effect in a patient with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with palliative radiotherapy and pembrolizumab

Wambaka Ange Mampuya; Hasna Bouchaab; Niklaus Schaefer; Remy Kinj; Stefano La Rosa; Igor Letovanec; Mahmut Ozsahin; Jean Bourhis; George Coukos; Solange Peters; Fernanda G Herrera

doi:10.1016/j.ctro.2020.12.006

Abscopal effect in a patient with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with palliative radiotherapy and pembrolizumab

Clin Transl Radiat Oncol. 2021 Jan 1:27:85-88. doi: 10.1016/j.ctro.2020.12.006. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Service of radiation oncology, Lausanne University Hospital, Rue du Bugnon, 46, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
² Service of Oncology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland, Rue du Bugnon, 46, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Service of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Lausanne University Hospital, Rue du Bugnon, 46, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute of Pathology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Rue du Bugnon, 25, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁵ Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne Branch, Switzerland.

Abstract

The abscopal effect describes the ability of locally administered radiotherapy to induce systemic antitumor effects. Although mentioned for the first time in the 1950s, records of abscopal effects, considered to be immune-mediated, are scarce with radiotherapy alone. However, with the continued development and use of immunotherapy, reports on the abscopal effect have become increasingly frequent during the last decade. Here, we report a patient with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma who had progressive disease while on the anti-PDL1 inhibitor pembrolizumab and showed an abscopal response after palliative radiotherapy.

Keywords: Abscopal effect; Checkpoint inhibitors; Immunotherapy; Malignant pleural mesothelioma; Radiotherapy.

Publication types

Case Reports