BMC Cancer is calling for submissions to our Collection on advances in personalized radiotherapy. We welcome studies that aim to improve clinical outcomes following radiotherapy by the personalization of treatment as well as a further understanding of radiosensitivity and the development of biomarkers.
Radiotherapy (RT) is a mainstay of cancer treatment. The tumor response to the RT is heterogeneous, from a complete response to even disease progression during radiation. This issue urges understanding factors mediating different RT responses in different individuals. This approach has evolved into a discipline in Oncology called Personalized Radiotherapy. This discipline aims to modulate the RT intensity, schedule, and concomitant treatments to improve the therapeutic index. In recent years, technological advances and the increased use of combined-modality RT, such as chemoradiotherapy and immunoradiotherapy, have improved clinical outcomes. Improvements in imaging technologies have led to the field of radiomics and the use of its potential to improve theranostic objectives. Alongside radiomics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics are also all accelerating the discovery of predictive biomarkers of radiosensitivity and treatment efficacy as well as adverse events and toxicity. The increased integration of biomarkers from various high-dimensional data modalities and combination of RT with other systemic treatments such as immunotherapy and targeted therapeutics, as well as a better understanding of tumor heterogeneity and the effect of the tumor microenvironment, offers the true promise of personalized radiotherapy.
In recognition of the multidisciplinary research needs to improve personalized radiotherapy further, BMC Cancer is inviting submissions to a collection on this subject. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Development of radiosensitizing agents
- Use of machine learning to develop/modify treatment plans
- Genomic signatures of radiation sensitivity
- Radiomics biomarkers
- Biology and effect of tumor microenvironment on radiation sensitivity
- Use of radiotracers and PET-CT imaging to identify an area of active tumor growth and metabolism
- Individualization of radiation and systemic treatment sequencing
- Improvement of imaging changes in tumor and anatomy changes
- Radiotherapy as adjuvants for personalized immunotherapy and targeted therapeutics
- Use of hypoxia-targeted interventions to improve treatment outcomes
- Targeted anti-mitochondrial treatments to improve therapeutic index
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