Chairs: Claudio Fiorino (Italy), Tiziana Rancati (Italy), Robert Jeraj (USA)

 

Motivation

Not all patients respond the same way to radiation treatment, and assessment of treatment response provides invaluable information that could be utilized to alter treatment itself. Medical imaging offers unique spatio-temporal information both on the tumor and the normal tissue, not available by other means. However, it also creates a range of challenges, such as how imaging biomarkers should be extracted, modelled, and applied in the clinical environment. Although there has been continuous interest in research in the field, the main focus has been on imaging biomarker identification and validation. More effort is needed to push the clinical applications that aim to personalise therapies based on individual patient responses to treatment. In particular, imaging biomarkers of early response are of high interest, as they may ideally make individual adaptation of treatment strategies possible during therapy.

Therefore, the main goal of the workshop will be to address relevant issues that still prevent effective use of the imaging biomarkers of early treatment response in the clinics. Their use will allow detection of subtle changes within the tumour and the microenvironment long before traditional clinical endpoints manifest. This early detection will allow for timely adjustments to treatment plans but also open avenues for personalized medicine tailored to each patient's unique biological response.

 

Workshop Focus

This workshop aims to prepare a grant proposal for the MSCA Doctoral Network action (DN) in 2025 by discussing it with potential consortium partners and stakeholders.

The central question we will try to answer is: “What are the main barriers for effective use of imaging biomarkers of early treatment response?”

Other important aspects that we anticipate discussing at the workshop are:

1. What is the existing evidence for the association of early response biomarkers with clinical outcomes?

2. How can we use evidence for treatment strategy adaptation?

3. What are the technical requirements for an imaging biomarker to be used across centers and using standard-of-care images?

4. What are the major barriers for the implementation imaging biomarkers of early response in the clinics?

5. What is the role of imaging biomarkers of early response in primary vs advanced (metastatic) disease?

6. What is the role of imaging biomarkers in the early identification of sensitive patients for treatment-related side effects?

7. What is the complementary role of other non-imaging biomarkers (e.g., liquid biopsies)?

 

Potential outcomes:

1. Establish a consortium of people/centers

2. Prepare a MSCA DN proposal

3. Publish a systematic review on imaging biomarkers of early treatment response