Introduction: Progress Towards Genomically-directed Radiosensitization

Abstract

Radiation therapy continues to break down technological barriers to deliver ionizing radiation with exceptional anatomical precision. However, some tumor types and subtypes exhibit intrinsic biological resistance to radiotherapy, which can result in unsuccessful tumor eradication or symptom palliation. Radiation resistance can result from alterations in diverse genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic pathways. Therapeutic targeting of these tumor-specific alterations may provide tumor-selective radiosensitization with relative sparing of adjacent normal tissues. This issue of Seminars in Radiation Oncology presents a series of articles that describe recent progress towards genomically-directed radiosensitization.