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@ARTICLE{Dimou:304600,
author = {K. Dimou and Y. Roussakis and C. Zamboglou$^*$ and T.
Stylianopoulos},
title = {{T}he impact of tumor microenvironment and treatment
schedule on the effectiveness of radiation therapy.},
journal = {PLOS ONE},
volume = {20},
number = {9},
issn = {1932-6203},
address = {San Francisco, California, US},
publisher = {PLOS},
reportid = {DKFZ-2025-01919},
pages = {e0331509},
year = {2025},
abstract = {External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) is predominantly
administered using Conventionally Fractionated Radiotherapy
(CFRT), that is 2 Gy per fraction. However, Moderately
Hypofractionated Radiotherapy (MHRT) (approx. 2.5-3 Gy per
fraction) and Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) (approx.
6-24 Gy per fraction) regimen are currently clinically
investigated or even recently included in standard clinical
practice. In addition, hyperfractionated radiotherapy
(<1.8-2 Gy per fraction) is also clinically investigated or
already used in standard clinical practices. The therapeutic
effects of each of these radiotherapy schedules might depend
on the degree of radioresistance of the tumor but also on
properties of the tumor microenvironment, such as tumor
perfusion and oxygenation. Here, building on previous work,
we developed a mathematical model to investigate optimal
radiotherapy treatment protocols in solid tumors. The model
incorporates direct effects of radiation on cancer cells and
accounts for the impact of tumor perfusion and oxygenation
on the efficacy of radiation therapy. The model was able to
accurately reproduce both preclinical and clinical data from
different radiotherapy treatment schedules. It confirmed
that greater tumor perfusion and thus, oxygenation improves
treatment effectiveness by increasing the number of cancer
cells killed during the treatment period. It further
predicted that this effect is more pronounced for
radioresistant tumors, meaning that changes in tumor
perfusion of more radioresistant tumors have a greater
impact on the percentage of surviving cells at the end of
the treatment. The mathematical model provides mechanistic
insights into the effectiveness of various radiotherapy
schedules and guidelines for how modifying the tumor
microenvironment to restore perfusion can affect radiation
therapy.},
keywords = {Tumor Microenvironment: radiation effects / Humans /
Neoplasms: radiotherapy / Neoplasms: pathology / Neoplasms:
blood supply / Dose Fractionation, Radiation / Treatment
Outcome / Models, Biological / Models, Theoretical},
cin = {FR01},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-He78)FR01-20160331},
pnm = {899 - ohne Topic (POF4-899)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-899},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:40961159},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0331509},
url = {https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/304600},
}