Recent Results in Cancer Research最新文献

{"title":"Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.","authors":"Morgan McLaughlin, Marcel van Straten, Esther A H Warnert, Marjolein Verhoeven, Sandra T van Tiel, Jeroen Essers, Gustav J Strijkers, Bram F Coolen, Monique R Bernsen","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-15314-2_2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-15314-2_2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Imaging in Oncology is rapidly moving from the detection and size measurement of a lesion to the quantitative assessment of metabolic processes and cellular and molecular interactions. Increasing insights into cancer as a complex disease with involvement of the tumor stroma in tumor pathobiological processes have made it clear that for successful control of cancer, treatment strategies should not only be directed at the cancer cells but should also take aspects of the tumor microenvironment into account. This requires an understanding of the complex molecular and cellular interactions in cancer tissue. Recent developments in imaging technology have increased the possibility of imaging various pathobiological processes in cancer development and response to treatment. For computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), various improvements in hardware, software, and imaging probes have lifted these modalities from classical anatomical imaging techniques to techniques suitable for imaging and quantifying various physiological processes and molecular and cellular interactions. Next to a more general overview of possible imaging targets in oncology, this chapter provides an overview of the various developments in CT and MRI technology and some specific applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"224 ","pages":"39-85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147964979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fluorescence Imaging of Cancer.","authors":"Dirk Grosenick","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optical imaging offers a high potential for noninvasive detection and therapy of cancer in humans. Recent advances in instrumentation for diffuse optical imaging have led to new capabilities for the detection of cancer in highly scattering tissue such as the female breast. In particular, fluorescence imaging is a promising method to image molecular probes in vivo. We review recent developments in the detection of breast cancer and fluorescence-guided surgery of the breast by contrast agents available for application on humans. Detection of cancer has been investigated with the unspecific contrast agents \"indocyanine green\" and \"omocianine\" so far. Hereby, indocyanine green was found to offer high potential for the differentiation of malignant and benign lesions by exploiting vessel permeability for macromolecules as a cancer-specific feature. Tumor-specific molecular targeting and activatable probes have been investigated in clinical trials for fluorescence-guided detection of tumor margins. In this application, high spatial resolution can be achieved, since tumor regions are visualized mainly at the tissue surface. As another example of superficial tumor tissue, imaging of lesions in the gastrointestinal tract is discussed. Promising results have been obtained on high-risk patients with Barrett's esophagus and with ulcerative colitis by administering 5-aminolevulinic acid, which induces the accumulation of protoporphyrin IX serving as a tumor-specific fluorescent marker. Time-gated fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy are effective ways to suppress the underlying background from tissue autofluorescence. Furthermore, recently developed tumor-specific molecular probes have been demonstrated to be superior to white-light endoscopy, offering new ways for early detection of malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"225 ","pages":"643-672"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular Imaging in Photon Radiotherapy.","authors":"Sonja Adebahr, Jamina Tara Fennell, Eleni Gkika, Anca L Grosu","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_14","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_14","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nowadays, more than ever before, the treatment of cancer patients requires an interdisciplinary approach. Radiation therapy (RT) has become an indispensable pillar of cancer treatment early on, offering a local, curative treatment option, and symptom control in palliative cases. Due to technological advances in the last 30 years, the precision in RT planning has greatly improved, allowing the radiation oncologist to prescribe high radiation doses and thereby assuring high local tumor control while sparing healthy tissue, and thereby reducing side effects. One of the most important developments has been the widespread introduction of intensity-modulated RT (IMRT), allowing a steep dose gradient outside the target volume. But higher precision in RT delivery is only useful if the information about tumor spread is equally precise. Unlike the surgeon who can visually verify the preoperative staging and adapt the extent of the procedure accordingly, the radiation oncologist depends much more and sometimes even exclusively on imaging diagnostics to define the macroscopic (gross tumor volume [GTV]) and microscopic tumor spread (clinical tumor volume [CTV]).Therefore, molecular imaging, especially positron emission tomography (PET) and multiparametric MRI, offers exciting new possibilities to improve RT planning and monitoring. While radio-oncology has become a vast field, this chapter is supposed to give an overview of the application of molecular imaging in photon RT, which is the most common type of RT, using the example of brain tumors, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, and uterine cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"225 ","pages":"975-1000"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Imaging Immunotherapy.","authors":"Egesta Lopci, Angelo Castello, Matteo Caracciolo, Luigi Mansi, Akram Al-Ibraheem","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_12","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_12","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cancer immunotherapy aims to enhance or reactivate immune system function by leveraging both adaptive and innate immunity mechanisms. Key approaches to stimulate tumor-specific immune responses include cytokine therapies, cancer vaccines, and immune checkpoint blockade. The field experienced transformative growth after the 2011 approval of ipilimumab (targeting CTLA-4), paving the way for subsequent inhibitors of PD-1 and PD-L1 pathways that demonstrated unprecedented survival benefits across multiple malignancies. These breakthroughs have catalyzed advancements in adoptive T cell therapies, particularly genetically modified CAR T cell infusions showing promising clinical efficacy, signaling a paradigm shift in oncology treatment approaches. Meanwhile, response assessment has faced new challenges. In fact, immunotherapy response patterns often contrast with conventional chemotherapy, particularly regarding phenomena like pseudoprogression, delayed clinical effects, and extended disease stabilization. To address these unique dynamics, revised response assessment guidelines have been established to enhance therapeutic development and clinical decision-making. This chapter examines the progression of immune-specific evaluation standards, their application in clinical trials, and their practical consequences, concluding with insights into future advancements in response classification systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"225 ","pages":"911-943"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Potential Clinical Applications of Hyperpolarized ¹³C and ²H MRI.","authors":"Richard Hesketh, Kevin Brindle","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With modern targeted cancer drugs, not all patients will respond to treatment in the same way. The challenge is to select the most appropriate treatment for an individual patient, which could reduce healthcare costs and improve patient management. MRI with hyperpolarized ¹³C-labelled and ²H-labelled substrates offers potentially unique insights into the metabolism of tumours in the clinic, where these techniques can be used to grade tumours and to both predict and then detect their very early responses to treatment. We discuss here the basic principles of how these metabolic imaging techniques work and give examples of how different labelled substrates can be used, with a focus on those substrates that have already gone into the clinic or are about to go into the clinic.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"225 ","pages":"781-801"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advancements in Intraoperative Imaging for Enhanced Surgical Precision.","authors":"Miles Pourbaghi, Feng Chen, Nabil Siddiqui, Michelle Bradbury","doi":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_13","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-032-21415-7_13","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The convergence of targeted imaging agents with intraoperative guidance systems is reshaping oncologic surgery to enable precision tumor resection and reduce residual disease. We examine the evolving role and integration of cancer theranostics with advanced image-guided intraoperative imaging to improve surgical precision and the targeted removal of diseased tissue while sparing normal vital structures. Molecularly engineered probes, for instance, the EGFR-targeted antibody conjugated with IRDye800CW and the folate receptor alpha-targeting agent, OTL38, delineate tumor margins with high sensitivity and specificity, and investigational tumor-targeting probes that combine preoperative PET imaging with real-time surgical navigation maximize tumor detection and removal for improving patient outcomes. These approaches exploit near-infrared (NIR) optical windows to overcome limitations at visible wavelengths, including shallow light penetration and autofluorescence, and enhance sensitivity and spatial resolution. In parallel, advances in imaging hardware and software have led to new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered surgical navigation devices, multispectral cameras, gamma probes, and Cerenkov luminescence systems that complement the molecular precision of these probes by offering enhanced depth detection and/or dynamic visualization. The integration of AI and augmented reality further refines image registration and quantitative analysis, ensuring that intraoperative feedback is accurate and actionable. The synthesis of molecular targeting and state-of-the-art imaging addresses the critical clinical need of achieving complete tumor resection, a key determinant of patient prognosis and recurrence. Recent Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials underscore the translational potential of these theranostic approaches, which are rapidly advancing toward routine practice. By enabling personalized and adaptive surgical strategies, the integration of cancer theranostics and intraoperative imaging represents a vital step forward in precision oncology, promising significant improvements in long-term patient outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"225 ","pages":"945-971"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-Term Follow-Up in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Patients.","authors":"Friedhelm Raue, Karin Frank-Raue","doi":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_11","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_11","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>After surgery, patients with MTC (medullary thyroid carcinoma) should be assessed for the presence of residual disease, the localization of metastases, and the identification of progressive disease. Postoperative staging is used to separate low-risk patients from high-risk patients with MTC. In addition to the TNM system, further histological staging with Ki67, mitotic count, tumor necrosis, and molecular analysis of somatic RET mutations is helpful for the stratification of patients in different prognostic categories. The number of lymph node metastases and involved compartments as well as postoperative Ctn (calcitonin) and CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) levels should also be documented. Postoperative nonmeasurable Ctn levels are associated with a favorable outcome. In patients with basal serum Ctn levels less than 150 pg/ml following thyroidectomy, persistent or recurrent disease is almost always confined to lymph nodes in the neck. If the postoperative serum Ctn level exceeds 150 pg/ml, patients should be evaluated by imaging procedures, including neck and chest CT (computed tomography), contrast-enhanced MRI, US of the liver, bone scintigraphy, MRI of the bone and positron emission tomography (PET)/CT. One can estimate the growth rate of MTC metastases from sequential imaging studies using response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) that document increases in tumor size over time and by measuring serum levels of Ctn or CEA over multiple time points to determine the tumor marker doubling time. One of the main challenges remains finding effective adjuvant and palliative options for patients with metastatic disease. Patients with persistent or recurrent MTC localized to the neck and slightly elevated Ctn levels following thyroidectomy might be candidates for neck reoperations depending on the extent of the tumor. Once metastases appear, the clinician must decide which patients require therapy, balancing the frequently slow rate of tumor progression associated with a good quality of life and suggesting active surveillance against the limited efficacy and potential toxicities of local and systemic therapies. Considering that metastatic MTC is incurable, the management goals are to provide locoregional disease control, palliate symptoms such as diarrhea, palliate symptomatic metastases causing pain or bone fractures, and control metastases that threaten life through bronchial obstruction or spinal cord compression. This can be achieved by palliative surgery, EBRT (external beam radiation therapy) or systemic therapy using multikinase inhibitors (MKIs) targeting RET or selective RET inhibitors requiring genetic testing prior to the initiation of therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"223 ","pages":"267-291"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Epidemiology, Clinical Presentation, and Diagnosis of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma.","authors":"Friedhelm Raue, Karin Frank-Raue","doi":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor originating from thyroid C cells that produces mainly calcitonin (Ctn) and is used as a tumor marker. MTC can occur either sporadically (75%) or in a hereditary variant (multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2, MEN2) due to germline mutations in the RET proto-oncogene. The discovery of MTC in a patient has several diagnostic implications involving a specific strategy, preoperative evaluation of the tumor marker Ctn and the extent of the disease, classification of MTC as sporadic or hereditary using germline RET testing, screening for associated endocrinopathies in hereditary MTC, and somatic RET testing in sporadic MTC. Elevated Ctn is a highly sensitive and specific tumor marker for the diagnosis and follow-up of MTC. Ctn is directly related to the tumor mass. In patients with nodular thyroid disease, MTC can be diagnosed by Ctn determination. Ctn is an indicator of tumor burden. Patients with confirmed sporadic or hereditary MTC should undergo total thyroidectomy. Depending on the preoperative Ctn value, additional dissection of the lymph nodes in the central and lateral neck compartments should be performed. In MEN 2 patients diagnosed by RET mutation analysis, the timing of prophylactic thyroidectomy depends on the specific RET mutation and Ctn level.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"223 ","pages":"93-127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systemic Therapies for Advanced Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma.","authors":"Marco Ruiz Santillan, Ramona Dadu, Robert F Gagel, Elizabeth G Grubbs, Mimi I Hu","doi":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_12","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_12","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare disease that is indolent in the majority of patients. In a subset of patients, the cancer is more aggressive with symptomatic or progressive disease metastasizing to cervical neck structures, lungs, liver, and/or bones. Definitive cure for metastatic MTC remains elusive. Understanding oncogenic pathways and molecular drivers of disease have led to development and approval of multikinase and highly-specific RET inhibitors for the management of progressive MTC. RET mutations are the most common drivers in MTC, followed by mutually exclusive RAS mutations. Cabozantinib and vandetanib, multikinase inhibitors (MKIs) that exert their therapeutic effect mainly through antiangiogenesis by targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, have mild anti-RET activity. Despite conveying clinical responses in MTC, MKIs have significant off-target activity causing marked toxicities limiting their effectiveness. Potent and selective RET inhibitors, selpercatinib and pralsetinib, demonstrate significant efficacy in RET-altered cancers and more tolerable side effect profiles than MKIs. However, durable responses can be limited by the acquisition of mutations which confer drug resistance to available treatments. Thus, development of more effective treatments for advanced, progressive MTC remains an urgent priority. In this chapter, we describe the current spectrum of systemic therapies for MTC, their limitations, and ongoing investigations.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"223 ","pages":"293-307"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pheochromocytoma in MEN2.","authors":"Matti L Gild, Kimchi Do, Venessa H M Tsang, Lyndal J Tacon, Roderick J Clifton-Bligh, Bruce G Robinson","doi":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/978-3-031-80396-3_8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pheochromocytomas (PCs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors found in 20-50% of MEN2 patients. MEN2-related PCs are more often bilateral, identified at a younger age and have a low metastatic potential. They secrete epinephrine as the predominant catecholamine, along with its metabolite metanephrine, and lesser amounts of norepinephrine and normetanephrine. The advent of molecular diagnostic tools has enhanced the identification and stratification of these tumors, revealing a strong genotype-phenotype correlation which is crucial for screening and managing patients. Evaluation involves a combination of structural (CT/MRI) and functional imaging. MIBG remains helpful for PC assessment but novel PET ligands (¹⁸F-DOPA, ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATATE, ¹⁸F-FDG) aid in the detection of extra-adrenal paragangliomas, recurrence, and metastatic disease. The treatment paradigm has shifted toward personalized medicine, incorporating genetic insights to tailor interventions, particularly surgical approaches and novel therapeutics such as radiolabeling of somatostatin analogs with lutetium and tyrosine kinase inhibitors.</p>","PeriodicalId":39880,"journal":{"name":"Recent Results in Cancer Research","volume":"223 ","pages":"211-235"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}