Predicting Response to Chemoradiation in Oesophageal Cancer
Author Information
Author(s): Gillham Charles M, Reynolds John, Hollywood Donal
Primary Institution: Academic Unit of Clinical and Molecular Oncology, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Hypothesis
Can predictive markers be identified to determine which patients with localized oesophageal cancer will respond to neo-adjuvant chemoradiation?
Conclusion
Currently, there are no clinically useful predictors of response based on standard pathological assessment and immunohistochemistry, but genomics, proteomics, and molecular imaging may hold promise.
Supporting Evidence
- Conventional indices including tumour stage and grade seem unable to predict histological response.
- Immuno-histochemical markers have been extensively studied, but none has made its way into routine clinical practice.
- Global gene expression from fresh pre-treatment tissue shows considerable promise.
Takeaway
Doctors want to find out which patients with oesophageal cancer will get better with treatment, but right now, they can't tell for sure who will respond well.
Methodology
A systematic search of Pubmed and Google Scholar was performed using specific keywords related to neo-adjuvant treatment and oesophageal cancer.
Limitations
Many predictive markers studied have not been validated for clinical use, and the data on imaging techniques is limited.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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