Molecular imaging biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy
- PMID: 32042331
- PMCID: PMC6993216
- DOI: 10.7150/thno.38339
Molecular imaging biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have substantially changed the field of oncology over the past few years. ICIs offer an alternative treatment strategy by exploiting the patients' immune system, resulting in a T cell mediated anti-tumor response. These therapies are effective in multiple different tumor types. Unfortunately, a substantial group of patients do not respond to ICIs. Molecular imaging, using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET), can provide non-invasive whole-body visualization of tumor and immune cell characteristics and might support patient selection or response evaluations for ICI therapies. In this review, recent studies with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET imaging, imaging of immune checkpoints and imaging of immune cells will be discussed. These studies are until now mainly exploratory, but the first results suggest that molecular imaging biomarkers could have a role in the evaluation of ICI therapy.
Keywords: biomarkers; immune checkpoint inhibitor; immunotherapy.; molecular imaging; positron emitting tomography.
© The author(s).
Conflict of interest statement
Competing Interests: E.G.E. de Vries reports institutional financial support for her advisory role from Daiichi Sankyo, Merck, NSABP, Pfizer, Sanofi, Synthon and for clinical trials or contracted research from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Chugai Pharma, CytomX Therapeutics, G1 Therapeutics, Genentech, Nordic Nanovector, Radius Health, Roche, Synthon. S.F. Oosting reports institutional financial support for clinical trials or contracted research from Celldex, Pfizer, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Kura Oncology, MedImmune, Roche, Merck Sharp & Dohme. A.J. van der Wekken reports institutional financial support for his advisory role from Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Roche (diagnostics), Astra Zeneca and institutional financial support for clinical trials from AstraZeneca. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
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