Molecular markers predicting radiotherapy response: report and recommendations from an International Atomic Energy...

There is increasing interest in radiogenomics and the characterization of molecular profiles that predict normal tissue and tumor radioresponse. A meeting in Amsterdam was organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss this topic on an international basis.

This report is not completely exhaustive, but highlights some of the ongoing studies and new initiatives being carried out worldwide in the banking of tumor and normal tissue samples underpinning the development of molecular marker profiles for predicting patient response to radiotherapy. It is generally considered that these profiles will more accurately define individual or group radiosensitivities compared with the nondefinitive findings from the previous era of cellular-based techniques. However, so far there are only a few robust reports of molecular markers predicting normal tissue or tumor response.

Many centers in different countries have initiated tissue and tumor banks to store samples from clinical trials for future molecular profiling analysis, to identify profiles that predict for radiotherapy response. The European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology GENEtic pathways for the Prediction of the effects of Irradiation (GENEPI) project, to store, document, and analyze sample characteristics vs. response, is the most comprehensive in this regard.

The next 5-10 years are likely to see the results of these and other correlative studies, and promising associations of profiles with response should be validated in larger definitive trials.