Positron Emission Tomography-Based Immunoimaging for Cancer Patient Stratification: Toward a More Holistic Approach

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Radiology

Background:

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized treatment for metastatic cancers, notably stage IV melanoma.
• However, patient response to ICIs varies, and the high sensitivity of melanoma to this therapy remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore biomarkers for stratifying patients who will benefit from ICI therapy.
• To investigate the role of imaging techniques in predicting immunotherapy response.

Main Methods:

• Evaluation of PD-L1 expression and tumor mutational burden.
• Utilizing positron emission tomography (PET)-CT and PET-MRI with ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) or novel radiopharmaceuticals.

Main Results:

• Current stratification methods are under evaluation.
• Imaging techniques show promise for characterizing immunotherapy response.

Conclusions:

• A combination of imaging and sequencing data, forming radiogenomic signatures, is essential for future patient selection.
• Personalized approaches are needed to optimize ICI therapy and combination strategies.