Understanding the tumor microenvironment and radioresistance by combining functional imaging with global gene expression.

The objective of this review is to present an argument for performing joint analyses between functional imaging with global gene expression studies. The reason for making this link is that tumor microenvironmental influences on functional imaging can be uncovered. Such knowledge can lead to (1) more informed decisions regarding how to use functional imaging to guide therapy and (2) discovery of new therapeutic targets. As such, this approach could lead to identification of patients who need aggressive treatment tailored toward the phenotype of their tumor vs those who could be spared treatment that carries risk for more normal tissue complications. Only a handful of papers have been published on this topic thus far, but all show substantial promise.