Radioimmunotherapy

Fighting the tumor cells comes natural to immune cells of our body; no wonder immunotherapy for cancer has become so successful. However, in some cancers, monoclonal antibodies alone do not lead to durable and/or clinically significant response or improvement in overall survival. Conjugation of monoclonal antibodies with beta-or alpha-emitting radionuclides potentiates their cytotoxic efficacy. This increased efficacy is primarily achieved due to the cross fire effect of radiation thereby overcoming the issues with penetration and concentration of large antibodies specifically in bulky tumors. This chapter enlists the major studies performed as of yet and the primary clinical indication of radioimmunotherapy. Although not routinely performed in many centers, it is foreseeable that the future advances in theranostics with radiolabeled probes will see an upsurge of RIT in combination with checkpoint inhibitors to increase the synergy of immune response against cancer cells.