Abscopal Effects: Case Report and Emerging Opportunities

The abscopal effect is a phenomenon observed in the treatment of metastatic cancer where localized irradiation of a particular tumor site causes a response in a site distant to the irradiated volume. The mechanisms of the abscopal effect are speculated to be of several origins, including distant effects on p53, elaboration of inflammatory agents including cytokines, and, most recently, secondary to immune mechanisms. In this case report, we present a rare report of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma with lung metastases who, after receiving radiation treatment to the liver, had a treatment response in the liver and a complete response in the lung. Recent advances in the understanding of the primary role of immune-modulated cytotoxicity, especially with the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors, have the potential to turn the abscopal effect from a rare phenomenon into a tool to guide antineoplastic therapy and provide a new line of research.