Innovative cancer treatments that augment radiotherapy or chemotherapy by the use of immunotherapy or gene therapy

Cancer is a complex multifactorial disease requiring combinations of several therapeutic modalities to treat it effectively. Despite advances in the field of prevention and treatment of cancer, morbidity and mortality remain high, especially for tumors that cannot be completely removed, as well as for those that are highly recurrent or highly metastatic. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, alone or in combination, are currently the prevalent treatment modalities. Yet, in order to treat metastases more effectively, the immune response must be recruited. In this review, we will focus on recent patents in the field of cancer that have concentrated on combining chemotherapy or radiotherapy strategies with immunotherapy, in order to eradicate the primary tumor as well as its metastases.