AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Dit proefschrift is gericht op verbetering van de behandeling van kanker, door te kijken naar de optimale duur van de behandeling, detectie en monitoring van de behandeling. Het optimale chemotherapeutische regime werd geëvalueerd bij patiënten met gestational trophoblatic neoplasia. Detectie van targets in tumorlaesies evenals controle van respons op een behandeling werd geëvalueerd bij patiënten met borstkanker door middel van beeldvorming met radioactief gelabelde monoklonale antilichamen gericht tegen HER2 en VEGF-A.; In the last decades, research on tumor biology has identified new molecular pathways involved in oncogenesis and this has led to the development of targeted anticancer therapies. All hallmarks of oncogenesis are potential candidates for drug targeting. These targets at the cell membrane and in the microenvironment of the tumor can be targeted with monoclonal antibodies. Biomarkers which predict response to therapy are of relevance for efficacy in drug development. Prediction of response before initiation of therapy or earlier during treatment would clearly benefit the patient. Currently, pre-and post treatment tumor biopsies are increasingly collected in clinical trials to characterize the effects of targeted drugs on molecular level. The disadvantage of this method is that biopsies only provide static information of a target in a small part of the tumor, which can be heterogeneous within the tumor and within different tumor lesions. Molecular imaging can serve as a predictive biomarker that can non-invasively visualizes targets in the entire tumor and all metastases in patients over time. This thesis describes the unique clinical applications of radio-labeled monoclonal antibody imaging of HER2 and VEGF in breast cancer patients, for detection of targets in tumor lesions as well as monitoring treatment response.