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- Alhuseinalkhudhur, Ali
(författare)
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HER2-receptor quantification in breast cancer patients by imaging with ABY-025 Affibody and PET
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide. Human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) is overexpressed in up to 20% of breast cancer cases and is considered an important prognostic factor and a therapeutic target. With the introduction of HER2-targeted therapy, it was important to recognize patients who will likely benefit from such treatment. Immunohistochemistry staining performed on a tumor biopsy, with in situ hybridization to detect gene amplification if needed, is the current gold standard method for HER2 receptor quantification. However, in cases with multiple metastases, it is both unfeasible and impractical to perform multiple biopsies without risking higher morbidity. Molecular imaging with tracers specifically targeting HER2 receptors provides a non-invasive approach, which allows full body quantification without the serious side effects associated with invasive biopsies. The molecule of focus in this thesis work is Affibody ZHER2:2891 (ABY-025) molecule that has a high affinity and selectivity towards HER2 receptors.This thesis is based on four original articles. The first part focused on the aspect of breast cancer imaging using HER2-targeting gallium-labeled tracer 68Ga-ABY-025 in positron emission tomography (PET) and its role in predicting breast cancer outcome. The second part was to investigate the effect of different risk factors on developing brain metastasis, the overall survival and the effect of HER2-targeted treatment on breast cancer brain metastasis based on Uppsala County cancer registry.We demonstrated that HER2-binding Affibody PET kinetics can be explained using a two-tissue compartment model and SUV values correlated well with the influx rates calculated using kinetic modeling, supporting its use to measure actual HER2 receptor binding. Phase II study demonstrated the potential of 68Ga-ABY-025 PET to predict the treatment outcome more accurately compared to biopsy HER2-status that uses the traditional immunohistochemistry staining and in situ hybridization techniques. 68Ga-ABY-025 PET provided accurate staging and reduced false positive 18F-FDG PET results in HER2-positive cases. HER2-positive molecular subtypes were associated with an increased risk of developing brain metastasis. Yet, longer survival times were observed in HER2-positive subtypes receiving HER2-targeted therapy.
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| 2. |
- Fessé, Per, 1973-
(författare)
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Epidermal Melanocyte Response to Radiotherapy
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cutaneous interfollicular melanocytes protect the skin from UV-radiation (UVR), and their response to UVR is well established. To date, the response activated in melanocytes by repeated genotoxic insults from radiotherapy (RT) has not been explored. Assuming that the molecular pathways involved in the melanocyte response to UVR are similar upon ionizing radiation, the aim of this work was to examine the effects of RT concerning UVR-response proteins and resistance to DNA damage to reveal mechanisms behind hyperpigmentation and depigmentation caused by RT. The results are based on immunostained tissue sections of 530 not sun-exposed skin punch biopsies. These are collected before, during, and after the end of adjuvant RT from the thoracic wall of breast cancer patients and the hip region of prostate cancer patients receiving curative RT. Fractionated RT with daily doses between 0.05 and 2.0 Gy, as well as hypofractionation and accelerated fractionation were investigated. Based on this clinical assay sterilizing the hair follicles, excluding migration of immature melanocytes from the bulge, it was ensured that interfollicular melanocytes are an autonomous self-renewing cell population with cells presenting different degrees of differentiation of which one fourth is immature; the melanocytes divide rarely and are absolute radioresistant to any dose schedule of RT applied, keeping the number of melanocytes intact. Hyperradiosensitivity to dose fractions of 0.05 to 0.3 Gy is observed for DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), differentiation and anti-apoptotic signaling. Proliferation is not stimulated and apoptosis is negligible upon exposure to RT, and also post-treatment. Melanocyte differentiation is maintained during RT, but dedifferentiation occurs after RT ends. The expected activation of the p53/p21 signaling upon RT appears in keratinocytes but is attenuated in melanocytes. A new observation is that melanocytes constitutively express BMI1, further upregulated upon irradiation, indicating that melanocytes have stem cell properties, which suggest that BMI1 prevents apoptosis, terminal differentiation and premature senescence and likely allows dedifferentiation by suppressing the p53/p21-mediated response to genotoxic damage, in addition to the repression of p16 and ARF. Melanocytes exhibit and accumulate a higher amount of DSBs during the RT period compared to keratinocytes, indicating reduced repair capacity of DSBs in melanocytes. Thus, only efficient pro-survival mechanisms can explain the melanocyte radioresistance regarding cell death. The findings in this thesis suggest that melanocytes are protected by activation of the BMI1-NF-kappa/β-CXCL8/CXCR2 pathway, in addition to upregulation of Bcl-2 by melanocyte-specific MITF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor).
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| 3. |
- Lindman, Henrik, 1963-
(författare)
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Individually Tailored Toxicity-based Chemotherapy : Studies on Patients with Primary and Metastatic Breast Cancer
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Standard dosing of chemotherapy based on body surface area (BSA) results in large individual differences in toxicity due to a large inter-patient variability in pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD). This results in under-dosing in certain patients with a potentially weaker antitumoral effect.Three clinical studies of individually tailored dosing of chemotherapy, based on haematological toxicity were conducted. In the first study, 26 women with metastatic breast cancer were treated with tailored and dose-escalated 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, supported by G-CSF (dFEC). In the second study 525 patients with high-risk primary breast cancer were randomised between dFEC and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone-marrow transplantation. The feasibility of a FEC regimen with doubled cyclophosphamide dose to mobilise peripheral stem cells was investigated. In the third study, 44 metastatic patients were treated with tailored epirubicin and docetaxel (ET). PK and PD were also investigated in these patients. The potential effects of G-CSF on MRI tumour evaluation were studied in 18 patients with skeletal metastases.Toxicity-based dosing entailed an evenly distributed two- to three-fold range of tolerated doses in all three studies. Efficacy and toxicity were not correlated to tolerated dose-levels. Tailored dFEC resulted in a response rate of 81% and the same regimen resulted in fewer breast cancer relapses compared with standard FEC followed by high-dose therapy. Toxicity was manageable except for an increased rate of secondary leukaemia. The modified FEC could safely mobilise sufficient numbers of stem-cells. Tailored ET resulted in a response rate of 63%. The inter-individual variability in drug clearance was larger than the inter-occasion variability and a semi-physiological model of PK and PD could predict leukocyte nadir and duration. An increased diffuse MR signal in the long TE IR-TSE sequence was observed in normal bone-marrow during G-CSF treatment; this could be mistaken as disseminated metastatic disease and could obscure focal metastases.In conclusion, the concept of individually tailored toxicity-based dosage of chemotherapy was equally feasible in primary and metastatic breast cancer, in two different chemotherapy regimens and in treatment with or without G-CSF support and may provide a pragmatic way of overcoming the shortcomings of standard BSA-based dosing.
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| 4. |
- Netterberg, Ida, 1988-
(författare)
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Pharmacometric Evaluation of Biomarkers to Improve Treatment in Oncology
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cancer is a family of many different diseases with substantial heterogeneity also within the same cancer type. In the era of personalized medicine, it is desirable to identify an early response to treatment (i.e., a biomarker) that can predict the long-term outcome with respect to both safety and efficacy. It is however not uncommon to categorize continuous data, e.g., using tumor size data to classify patients as responders or non-responders, resulting in loss of valuable information. Pharmacometric modeling offers a way of analyzing longitudinal time-courses of different variables (e.g., biomarker and tumor size), and therefore minimizing information loss.Neutropenia is the most common dose-limiting toxicity for chemotherapeutic drugs and manifests by a low absolute neutrophil count (ANC). This thesis explored the potential of using model-based predictions together with frequent monitoring of the ANC to identify patients at risk of severe neutropenia and potential dose delay. Neutropenia may develop into febrile neutropenia (FN), a potentially life-threatening condition. Interleukin 6, an immune-related biomarker, was identified as an on-treatment predictor of FN in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. C-reactive protein, another immune-related biomarker, rather demonstrated confirmatory value to support FN diagnosis.Cancer immunotherapy is the most recent advance in anticancer treatment, with immune checkpoint inhibitors, e.g., atezolizumab, leading the breakthrough. In a pharmacometric modeling framework, the area under the curve of atezolizumab was related to tumor size changes in non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with atezolizumab. The relative change from baseline of Interleukin 18 at 21 days after start of treatment added predictive value on top of the drug effect. The tumor size time-course predicted overall survival (OS) in the same population.Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells that have shed from a tumor and circulate in the blood. CTCs may cause distant metastases, which is related to a poor prognosis. A novel modeling framework was developed in which the relationship between tumor size and CTC count was quantified in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy and targeted therapy. It was also demonstrated that the CTC count was a superior predictor of OS in comparison to tumor size changes.In summary, IL-6 predicted FN, IL-18 predicted tumor size changes and tumor size changes and CTC counts predicted OS. The results in this thesis were obtained by using pharmacometrics to evaluate biomarkers to improve treatment in oncology.
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