Local Ablative Therapy Associated with Immunotherapy in Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: A Solution to Overcome the Double Trouble?—A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a major killer and is a challenging clinical research issue with abysmal survival due to unsatisfactory therapeutic efficacy. Two major issues thwart the treatment of locally advanced nonresectable pancreatic cancer (LAPC): high micrometastasis rate and surgical inaccessibility. Local ablative therapies induce a systemic antitumor response (i.e., abscopal effect) in addition to local effects. Thus, the incorporation of additional therapies could be key to improving immunotherapy’s clinical efficacy. In this systematic review, we explore recent applications of local ablative therapies combined with immunotherapy to overcome immune resistance in PDAC and discuss future perspectives and challenges. Particularly, we describe four chemoradiation studies and nine reports on irreversible electroporation (IRE). Clinically, IRE is the ablative therapy of choice, utilized in all but two clinical trials, and may create a favorable microenvironment for immunotherapy. Various immunotherapies have been used in combination with IRE, such as NK cell- or γδ T cell-based therapy, as well as immune checkpoint inhibitors. The results of the clinical trials presented in this review and the advancement potential of these therapies to phase II/III trials remain unknown. A multiple treatment approach involving chemotherapy, local ablation, and immunotherapy holds promise in overcoming the double trouble of LAPC.