To understand why Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) has major limitations to assess treatment to novel targeted therapies To learn which imaging approaches provide more accurate information about the specific tumor characteristics and changes during treatment To explore options for different imaging interpretations with the aid of computer algorithms To see the need for integrated diagnostics with other diagnostic options, such as genomics, metabolomics and proteomics This work has been published by the authors: Gerwing et al., The beginning of the end for...

Improvements in knowledge of cancer biology have resulted in the development of many targeted therapies over the past two decades, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and anti-angiogenic agents. However, the accurate selection of patients who are most likely to benefit from these targeted therapies and accurately monitoring the response of patients receiving such therapies are becoming increasingly challenging. Current imaging techniques still focus on tumor diameter, whose dynamics are typically interpreted using RECIST. While the effects of chemotherapy can effectively be assessed with these criteria,...

The “hallmarks of cancer”, as originally described by Hanahan and Weinberg in 2000 and revised in 2011, summarize and characterize the biological capabilities acquired by tumours during their development: the initial hallmarks included proliferative signaling, evasion of growth suppressors, activation of invasion and metastasis, replicative immortality, induction of angiogenesis and resistance to cell death [4]. In the updated version, two emerging hallmarks, the deregulation of cellular energetics and the evasion of immune destruction, as well as two additional enabling traits, genomic instability and mutation and...

Targeted therapies require novel imaging techniques for the assessment of tumour response; the current Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) are inadequate because tumour diameter does not reflect all types of response. There are, however, a few imaging techniques, that enable to assess tumour characteristics and therapy response more specifically: Nuclear medicine-based approaches, such as immune-PET, enable the detection of specific biomarkers expressed by tumour cells or cells located in the microenvironment, such as tumour-associated immune cells. MRI enables the noninvasive determination of several...

M. Gerwing; Münster/DE - nothing to disclose K. Herrmann; Essen/DE - nothing to disclose A. Helfen; Muenster/DE - nothing to disclose P. D. C. Schliemann; Muenster/DE - nothing to disclose P. D. W. E. Berdel; Muenster/DE - nothing to disclose D. D. M. Eisenblaetter; Freiburg/DE - nothing to disclose M. Wildgruber; Münster/DE - nothing to disclose

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