Trial lectures - time and place
Trial lectures: October 31 in Aditorium 1, Helga Engs hus
Topic selected by the candidate: 10:15
Topic given by Committee: 11:15
Conferral summary / Kreeringssammendrag
Funksjonell MR-avbildning er et lovende verktøy for å avdekke egenskaper ved kreftvev som har stor betydning for utfallet av kreftbehandling, samt for å overvåke effekten av behandling rettet mot kreftvevets blodårenettverk.
Main research findings / Hovedfunn
Most solid tumors exhibit an abnormal and hostile microenvironment, characterized by features like hypoxia, high fluid pressure, and a dense network of extracellular molecules. Such abnormal conditions greatly influence malignant progression and response to cancer therapy, and ultimately affect the outcome of cancer patients. Hence, to provide each patient with the optimal treatment, methods to non-invasively characterize the tumor microenvironment are needed.
The current work explored the potential of two functional MRI methods – DCE-MRI and DW-MRI – to assess the microenvironment in solid tumors. In both cervical and pancreatic tumor xenografts, the DCE-MRI parameter Ktrans was strongly related to the fraction of hypoxic tumor tissue. Moreover, the parameter ADC – derived from DW-MR images – was sensitive to the amount of extracellular collagen in cervical cancer xenografts.
Therapy aimed at modifying the tumor vasculature has been proposed as a means to increase the supply of oxygen to tumors and enhance the effect of other cancer therapies. However, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates that so-called antiangiogenic therapy may increase the amount of hypoxia in cervical and pancreatic tumor xenografts. It was further revealed that DCE-MRI represents a promising method to monitor the effect of antiangiogenic therapy on tumor oxygenation.
Adjudication Committee
- Professor Ralph P. Mason, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Texas
- Professor Tone F. Bathen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
- Professor Eli Olaug Hole, University of Oslo, Norway
Chair of defence
- Professor Susanne Viefers