This disclosure provides methods for treating tumors, reducing tumor severity, inhibiting
tumor growth, or inducing tumor
necrosis, wherein the methods include: selecting a patient with
cancer (e.g.,
liver cancer,
lung cancer, or
head and neck cancer) in need of treatment and administering neoadjuvant therapy to the patient in a combination of a therapeutically effective amount of a
programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor (e.g., cimiprimab or its bioequivalent) and
radiation therapy (e.g., SBRT) or an anti-
LAG-3
antibody (e.g., fenpromab), followed by
surgical resection and optionally administration of a
programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor (e.g., cimiprimab or its bioequivalent) as postoperative
adjuvant therapy. In some embodiments, the cancer is
liver cancer, such as
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).