Stereotactic body radiotherapy in the era of radiotherapy with immunotherapy

The spectrum of clinical use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), also known as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) has broaden, which has drawn much attention beyond radiation oncologists (1). Immunology and immunotherapy has been considered to provide curative potential for cancer therapy by key opinion leaders globally in recent years (2). “ISABR”, termed by Prof. Chang et al. from MD Anderson Cancer Center presented a combination of the two cutting edge approaches for cancer therapies (3). They provided data of preclinical and clinical investigation supporting building immunity with SBRT/SABR. In cope with Prof. Chang, we believe that immunotherapy and SBRT makes a perfect couple. In this editorial, we outline and further explain the mechanisms of tumor microenvironment changes under ISABR and uncover the translation from preclinical research to patient benefits.