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Molecular biomarkers are currently evaluated in preclinical and clinical studies in order to establish predictors for treatment decisions in radiation oncology. The receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) are described in the following text. Among them, the most data are available for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that plays a major role for prognosis of patients after radiotherapy, but seems also to be involved in mechanisms of radioresistance, specifically in repopulation of tumour cells between radiotherapy fractions. Monoclonal antibodies against the EGFR improve locoregional tumour control and survival when applied during radiotherapy, however, the effects are heterogeneous and biomarkers for patient selection are warranted. Also other RTK´s such as c-Met and IGF-1R seem to play important roles in tumour radioresistance. Beside the potential to select patients for molecular targeting approaches combined with radiotherapy, studies are also needed to evluate radiotherapy adaptation approaches for selected patients, i.e. adaptation of radiation dose, or, more sophisticated, of target volumes.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/978-3-662-49651-0_5

Type

Journal article

Journal

Recent Results Cancer Res

Publication Date

2016

Volume

198

Pages

107 - 122

Keywords

EGFR, Biomarker, Radiotherapy, HER-2, Receptor tyrosine kinases, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Chemoradiotherapy, ErbB Receptors, Humans, Neoplasms, Precision Medicine, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Radiation Oncology, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Survival Analysis