National Cancer Institute - NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and ...

■ Support development and delivery of
image-guided interventions
■ Accelerate the delivery of new imaging
agents and technology for research and
clinical use
■ Improve imaging informatics infrastructure
■ Advance the role of imaging to detect
and treat preneoplastic lesions
■ Improve understanding of
communications between cancer cells
and their environment
Lung cancer was chosen as an I2 Team
emphasis because of the inescapable
facts that five-year lung cancer survival
rates have improved only modestly over
the past three decades, that only a fraction
of lung cancers are diagnosed at an early
stage, and that even the most intensive
smoking cessation programs succeed less
than 25 percent of the time. Therefore,
merely doing more of the same—even
with higher levels of funding support—
would be unlikely to dramatically improve
the status quo.
In 2005, the Lung Cancer I2 Team—
composed of NCI staff and extramural
researchers under the leadership of
Dr. Margaret Spitz of the M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center—issued a set of recommendations
to accelerate and expand
efforts against lung cancer by focusing
on strategies with enormous opportunity
and potentially high returns. The recommendations
focus on critical strategies
that together serve as a pathway toward
the 2015 goal, not by incorporating
incremental strategies, but rather by focusing
on transformational strategies.
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Optical molecular imaging is one of the fastest growing imaging
modalities for cancer research. Establishing the network during the early
phase of technology development will bring the different communities
together to accelerate translation toward delivery of these technologies.
The team envisions a strategic role for
imaging in improving early detection of
lung cancer and precancerous conditions,
thereby improving the likelihood of cure.
The team’s plan highlights the need for
effective and validated early detection
techniques. It builds upon various lungspecific
projects of existing in vivo imaging
initiatives to achieve objectives related to
lung cancer at substantial cost savings.
Additionally, the Lung Cancer I2 Team
proposes to advance the science of imaging
response assessment with molecular
imaging technologies that directly reflect
response to targeted therapies. The team
also envisions a role for CIP in providing
uniform, high-quality imaging acquisition,
quality control, and analysis and creation
of a lung cancer imaging meta-directory
within the conduct of clinical trials.
Network for Translational
Research: Optical Imaging
http://imaging.cancer.gov/
programsandresources/
specializedinitiatives/ntroi
Contact:
Houston Baker, Ph.D.
301-594-9117, bakerhou@mail.nih.gov
The Network for Translational Research in
Optical Imaging (NTROI) was implemented
in September 2003 as a demonstration
project to show that technological innovations
developed under CIP grants could
benefit from coordinated attention to the
processes of validation and translation
toward clinical use. The intent of this
program is to address the fact that too
many medical inventions fail to progress