The key part in this potential improvement will be individualized treatment on the basis of a promotion and coordination of research from basic principles to controlled clinical studies as outlined in this proposal. New developments in beam delivery, treatment planning, and patient positioning are necessary prerequisites for precision radiotherapy. Switzerland is, therefore, ideally equipped for optimizing and comparing combined radiation modalities on a theoretical basis and in clinical trials. Computer-aided positioning systems are needed to increase precision, reduce setup time, and monitor patient movement during treatment. Real time tracking of tumors moving inside the patient's body with feedback to the irradiation delivery will be developed.
Radiobiology is a basic research discipline to establish novel treatment modalities.
By meticulous research over 50 years, a mathematical relationship was established between biologic tumor response, damage to normal tissues, and specific doses of ionizing radiation delivered to defined tumor systems. DNA has been considered the primary target of radiotherapy for many decades. Research in molecular biology has now identified multiple other intra- and extranuclear, as well as extracellular, cytotoxic targets of ionizing radiation. The expected cancer cell changes induced by ionizing radiation will be exploited to design novel biological or chemical radiomodifiers. Both basic and clinical research will be further exploited in collaboration with basic research institutions and the pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland.