Immunotherapy and Radiotherapy for Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Era: Proposed Paradigm by the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group

Abstract

Background: Older cancer patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease may benefit from chemotherapy alone or combined with radiotherapy. However, chemotherapy is often omitted either because of physician bias or because of its underlying comorbidity, thus compromising their survival. The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is compounding this issue because of the fear of immunosuppression induced by chemotherapy on the elderly which makes them more vulnerable to the virus.

Summary: Immunotherapy has less effect on the patient bone marrow compared to chemotherapy. The potential synergy between radiotherapy and immunotherapy may improve local control and survival for older patients with selected cancer. Preliminary data are encouraging because of better survival and local control in diseases which are traditionally resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy such as melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. Key Message: We propose a new paradigm combining immunotherapy at a reduced dose and/or extended dosing intervals and hypofractionated radiotherapy for older patients with selected cancer which needs to be tested in future clinical trials.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer patients; Immunotherapy; Older patients; Radiotherapy.