Radiotherapy responses may be improved with targeted immunotherapy, study suggests 8th March 2021 A new study suggests that targeted immunotherapy could make cancers that are resistant to radiotherapy more responsive to treatment. The study, conducted by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London in collaboration with the University of Leeds and The Francis Crick Institute, studied inflammation in bowel tumour samples taken before and after radiotherapy from 53 patients. The researchers aimed to understand how tumour immune activity before and after radiotherapy treatment varies between patients who respond or do not respond well to treatment. The study found that by profiling the immune landscape of cancers before therapy, researchers could identify which patients are likely to respond to radiotherapy, and also who might benefit from ‘priming’ their tumour with immunotherapy.