In conclusion, though rapamycin and sunitinib could synergistically Pexidartinib concentration reduce tumor volume, the

combination therapy exacerbated tumor metastasis. Our findings warrant that further mTOR inhibition treatment should be closely watched in clinical setting, especially when combined with other antiangiogenic therapy. “
“Monitoring of the individual tumor response is crucial for optimizing systemic treatment in patients with cancer, particularly as treatments trend toward individualized patient care [1], [2], [3] and [4]. Therapy response assessment is generally performed by anatomic imaging using the standardized Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors criteria on the basis of changes in anatomic tumor size [5]. However, standard-of-care anatomic imaging modalities, such as computed tomography, are unable to objectively evaluate treatment response at the early stages of treatment. In addition, shrinkage of tumors can be minimal even when treatment is effective. This phenomenon is most obvious in certain tumor types, like sarcomas or gastrointestinal stromal tumors [6], as well as with new targeted drugs that lack direct intrinsic cytotoxic activity, such as bevacizumab [7]. A modality see more that is based on functional contrast rather than on anatomic features alone may improve response monitoring.

An example of functional imaging is positron emission tomography (PET) using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG). Nowadays, 18F-FDG PET has been used for early-response monitoring and outcome prediction, although the accuracy is still dependent on the tumor type and the treatment used [8], [9] and [10]. In the last

decade, optical sensing, by means of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and autofluorescence spectroscopy (AFS), has been used to improve the identification of cancerous lesions in various organs [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20] and [21]. Both modalities enable tissue characterization by measuring the spectral very response after the tissue is illuminated with a selected spectral band of light. Depending on the tissue composition and its structure, a specific “optical fingerprint” is acquired. This optical fingerprint represents specific quantitative morphologic, biochemical, and functional information from the probed tissue, making it a promising technique for the detection of chemotherapy-induced alterations. Tromberg’s group investigated the changes in optically measured biomarkers during chemotherapy in breast cancer using diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) [22], [23], [24] and [25]. DOS imaging using a handheld probe was used to scan the breasts of patients with locally advanced breast cancer before, during, and after chemotherapy.