The results of this pilot study suggested that (62)Cu-ATSM uptake may be a predictive indicator of tumor response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Cell-free plasma DNA is elevated in cancer patients and decreases in response to effective treatments. Consequently, these nucleic acids have potential as new tumor markers. In our current study, we investigated whether the plasma DNA concentrations in patients with cancer are altered during the course of radiation therapy. To first determine the origin of cell-free plasma DNA, plasma samples from mice bearing transplanted human tumors were analyzed for human-specific and mouse-specific cell-free DNA. Human-specific DNA was detectable only in plasma from tumor-bearing mice. However, mouse-specific plasma DNA was significantly higher in tumorbearing mice than in normal mice, suggesting that cell-free plasma DNA originated from both tumor and normal cells. We measured the total cell-free plasma DNA levels by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 15 cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and compared these values with healthy control subjects. The cancer patients showed higher pretreatment plasma DNA concentrations than the healthy controls. Eleven of these patients showed a transient increase of up to eightfold in their cell-free plasma DNA concentrations during the first or second week of radiation therapy, followed by decreasing concentrations toward the end of treatment. In two other cancer patients, the cell-free plasma DNA concentrations only decreased over the course of the treatment. The total cell-free plasma DNA levels in cancer patients thus show dynamic changes associated with the progression of radiation therapy. Additional prospective studies will be required to elucidate the potential clinical utility and biological implications of dynamic changes in cell-free plasma DNA during radiation therapy. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 303-309) T he response of malignant tumors to radiation therapy varies, even if they show similar histopathological origins and clinical staging. An accurate assessment of the radiation sensitivity of individual tumors during the early phase of radiation therapy could provide valuable guidance for selecting the most appropriate treatment plan for individual patients, such as patientspecific modifications of the dose and field of radiation therapy, or additional or alternative therapeutic modalities earlier in the course of treatment. This in turn might contribute to better patient outcomes. However, conventional methods, including imaging diagnoses using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging or histopathological examination of biopsy samples, are limited in their ability to evaluate the radiation sensitivity of individual tumors during or immediately following radiation therapy. Hence, alternative assessment methods are required.Previous studies have shown that cell-free DNA is present in the bloodstream of cancer patients at higher concentrations than in healthy controls.(1-4) Although the cell origins and the mechanisms underlying cell-free DNA generation in cancer patients are not yet fully understood, it has been suggested that tumor cells might actively secr...

Postoperative radiation therapy is safe and effective in maintaining local control in patients with EMPD.

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