Bridging the gap between tumor hypoxia and tumor response : assessing the value of imaging biomarkers to guide hypoxia-driven interventions in radiotherapy

Abstract

Tumor hypoxia is known as a major cause of radioresistance. However, clinical practice actually does not integrate on a routine basis this factor in the definition of radiation protocols. This is in sharp contrast with the recent developments including the imaging techniques that monitor non-invasively tumor hypoxia, the emerging hypoxia-targeted therapies and the predictive tools to anticipate treatment outcome. Combining these advances offers the opportunity to translate knowledge on tumor hypoxia into an optimized, integrated and individualized anti-cancer treatment. In an attempt to bridge together tumor hypoxia and tumor response, the research presented here has consisted of three important tasks: validating the hypoxia imaging by 18F-FAZA PET; assessing the prognostic value of 18F-FAZA PET and its predictive potential to guide hypoxia-driven interventions in radiotherapy; assessing the utility of DW-MRI and 18F-FLT PET to early monitor the tumor response to irradiation.(BIFA - Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques) -- UCL, 201