Cancer research: better treatment of brain tumors

Enlarge

Theranostics is playing an increasing role in precision medicine. The approach combines molecular imaging techniques with targeted radiotherapy for personalized cancer therapy. Therapy and diagnostics are deployed in tandem – hence the portmanteau “theranostics.” The concept is already in clinical use for various types of cancer. “Theranostic treatments have shown meaningful efficacy in clinical trials and are approved for the personalized therapy of prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors,” explains LMU nuclear medicine physician Professor Nathalie Albert. “However, brain tumors represent an unmet clinical need” and theranostics could offer effective treatment options for cancers that affect the brain. Albert is lead author of a position paper by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), which was recently published in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology. The paper summarizes the potential of theranostics for the treatment of brain tumors. Albert is Chair of the Nuclear Medicine Committee of the EORTC Brain Tumor Group.

“In this policy review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing targeted radionuclide therapies for the treatment of brain tumors including glioma, meningioma, and brain metastasis,” says Albert. “There is a pronounced clinical need for new treatment options for these tumors,” emphasizes Matthias Preusser, Head of the Division of Clinical Oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine I at the Medical University of Vienna and senior author of the paper. Despite major advances in recent years, the mortality for brain tumors remains high.

In the paper, the researchers also discuss considerations for the effective design and conduct of clinical trials into the theranostic treatment concept for brain tumors, as well as logistical and regulatory challenges for the implementation of radionuclide therapies into neuro-oncological practice.“Rational development will foster successful translation of the theranostic concept to brain tumors,” says Preusser. The researchers stress that prospective and controlled clinical trials are necessary for the successful further development of these novel approaches to brain tumor treatment. “Theranostics will assume a prominent role in the cancer therapy of the future. Our next step is to systematically investigate this potential for the treatment of brain tumors,” says Albert.

At the end of 2024, the EORTC network launches, under the leadership of Nathalie Albert, the world’s first prospective randomized study to investigate theranostic treatment for recurrent meningioma, which will be conducted in 35 centers in 10 European countries including Germany.

Nathalie Albert et al.: Translating the theranostic concept to neuro-oncology: disrupting barriers. The Lancet Oncology 2024