Mistiming Death: Modeling the Time-Domain Variability of Tumor Apoptosis and Implications for Molecular Imaging of Cell Death.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Apoptosis, in the context of cancer, is a form of programmed cell death induced by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. As this is a central pathway in treatment response, considerable effort has been expended on the development of molecular imaging agents to non-invasively measure tumor apoptosis prior to quantitative changes in tumor dimensions. Despite these efforts, clinical trials directed at imaging apoptosis by PET, SPECT, and MRI have failed to robustly predict response to treatment with high sensitivity and specificity. Although these shortcomings may be linked to probe design, we propose that the combination of variability in the timing of maximal in vivo tumor apoptosis and sub-optimal sampling times fundamentally limits the predictive power of PET/SPEC

SUBMITTER: Gammon ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8279023 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature