Cancer Treatment Response

Traditional anticancer therapy involves treatment with radiation and DNA-damaging chemotherapies. More recently, insight into the molecular and genetic changes associated with cancer has led to a shift in anticancer drug development, and new drugs typically modulate specific molecular targets associated with onset and progression of the disease. The oncologist’s armamentarium has thus expanded substantially, and anticancer therapy is becoming increasingly personalized. However, assessing response to treatment can be challenging. Response to traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy is typically associated with eventual tumor shrinkage, but this effect is frequently delayed. Many emerging therapies lead only to tumor stasis. Noninvasive biomarkers of drug delivery and molecular drug action are therefore essential in order to assess, at the earliest possible time point, localized drug activity and thus the likelihood of clinical response. The value of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) as a method to assess response will be presented and discussed.