VISUALIZATION AND ASSESSMENT OF TREATMENT-RELATED APOPTOSIS IN TUMORS: CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES

Tumor cell death in response to therapeu- tic interventions can proceed by several distinct mech- anisms with apoptosis representing the predominant mode of cell demise. The extent of apoptosis is consid- ered as one of the surrogate markers of tumor respon- siveness to the therapy. The review deals with molecular mechanisms of apoptosis focusing on the most important markers useful for detecting the apoptotic cells in biop- sy or surgery specimens of cancer tissue. The techniques used for predicting and monitoring the treatment effica- cy in cancer patients based on accounting for apoptosis markers in tumor tissues and body fluids are described with particular emphasis on non-invasive technologies for imaging of apoptosis in vivo.