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Molecular Biomarkers in Radiation Oncology

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Radiation Oncology

Abstract

Molecular biomarkers in radiation oncology could enable the selection of patients for individualization of radiation therapy and concomitant treatment with optimizing agents and are an important tool in precision medicine. The biomarkers are directed toward either determining the tumor radiosensitivity or as markers for the normal tissue response to radiotherapy and are focused on the biological characteristics that affect response to radiation. Although a lot of focus has been directed on identifying suitable molecular biomarkers for radiation oncology, almost none has made it into clinical use.

This chapter will introduce the basic definitions of biomarkers and the differences between prognostic and predictive biomarkers. It will go through the biological factors that influence differences in response to radiation, such as intrinsic radiosensitivity, hypoxia, HPV status and number of cancer stem cells (CSCs), and candidate biomarkers for these causes of radioresistance.

The ability to predict normal tissue complication risk prior to radiotherapy has been a long sought goal in radiobiology. For more than 25 years, various attempts have tried to establish a predictive assay for normal tissue radiosensitivity, and these efforts will be summarized. Different strategies for identifying predictive markers for the normal tissue response to radiotherapy will be described, and the current status of radiogenomics is evaluated.

Validation of identified biomarkers is a crucial step in getting a biomarker implemented in the clinic. The different levels of validation, analytical validity, clinical validity, and clinical utility, will be explained, and examples of biomarkers that have gone through this validation process are included.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Brita Singers Sørensen, Christian Nicolaj Andreassen & Jan Alsner

  2. Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Christian Nicolaj Andreassen

Authors
  1. Brita Singers Sørensen
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  2. Christian Nicolaj Andreassen
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  3. Jan Alsner
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Correspondence to Brita Singers Sørensen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Frederik Wenz

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Sørensen, B.S., Andreassen, C.N., Alsner, J. (2019). Molecular Biomarkers in Radiation Oncology. In: Wenz, F. (eds) Radiation Oncology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52619-5_103-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52619-5_103-1

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