Just like any other discipline in oncology, the rapidly emerging radiogenomics landscape is also being shaped by big data, large-scale collaborative research including genome-wide association studies, and translational research of excellence carried out by multidisciplinary teams.
Firmly focused on predictive science and novel approaches aimed at better linking genetic variants with response to radiation therapy, today´s 9th Annual Radiogenomics Consortium Meeting, hosted by VHIO, represents an important forward step towards validating an increasing number of biomarkers, models and approaches that can more accurately gauge the risk of developing long-term side effects following radiotherapy in individual patients.
Predictive cancer science is not only crucial to prevention strategies but central to collective efforts aimed at improving the quality of life of our patients as well as those cancer survivors who experience significant physical and psychological morbidity. Given that radiotherapy is one of the major cornerstones of anti-cancer therapy either as primary therapy or in combination for around half of all treatment regimens, and considering that an estimated 5-10% of those patients will suffer severe adverse effects, with a further 50% estimated to experience less severe yet burdensome ones, better identifying potentially radiosensitive patients prior to therapy is paramount.
“By more precisely defining the genetic and molecular bases for radiotherapy adverse effects, we will be able to better guide individualized treatment decisions balancing potential treatment gain with the risk of burden of illness endured by patients and cancer survivors,” observes VHIO´s Director, Josep Tabernero, who inaugurated today´s meeting alongside Jordi Giralt, Principal Investigator of VHIO´s Radiation Oncology Group, and Sara Gutiérrez, Senior Scientist of VHIO´s Oncogenetics Group led by Orland Díez.
Throughout the course of today´s meeting, participants will be updated on important progress reported from various cross-border studies that are developing and validating statistical models incorporating biomarker data to establish the likelihood of adverse side effects, exploring the application of machine learning techniques to radiogenomics, and road-mapping next directions in a session dedicated to future projects.
It is thanks to the work of the Radiogenomics Consortium founders and co-chairs of this meeting, Catharine West and Barry Rosenstein, as well as the dedication of the REQUITE project – Validating Predictive Models and Biomarkers of Radiotherapy Toxicity to Reduce Side-Effects and Improve Quality-of-Life in Cancer Survivors – investigators and collaborators, including Sara Gutiérrez and Orland Díez from VHIO, that have promoted these essential multi-center collaborations.
Tomorrow, Tuesday 20 June, the REQUITE project will celebrate its 5th two-day annual meeting, also hosted by VHIO, to present the very latest developments across its various work packages and up-to-the-minute results from its various studies, analyses and trials.
To discover more about REQUITE, a project funded by the European Commission´s 7th Framework Programme of Research and Development, please visit:
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