Figure 2.

The abscopal effect (I). The cellular stress induced by local RT in the primary tumor will lead to the generation of an inflammatory milieux consisting of cytokines and DAMPs and to the release of tumor peptides. DC loaded with tumor peptides will cross-present them to naïve CD8+ T cells within the TME inducing their activation (a). The activated CD8+ T cells will mediate local (a) and distant (b) tumor cytotoxicity. RT, radiotherapy; DAMPs, damage-associated molecular patterns; DC, dendritic cell; TME, tumor microenvironment; MHC I, major histocompatibility complex class I.