{"doi":"10.3390/ijms26136375","title":"Radiation Therapy Personalization in Cancer Treatment: Strategies and Perspectives","abstract":"<jats:p>Modern oncology increasingly relies on personalized strategies that aim to customize medical interventions, using both tumor biology and clinical features to enhance efficacy and minimize adverse effects. In recent years, precision medicine has been implemented as part of systemic therapies; however, its integration into radiation therapy (RT) is still a work in progress. Conventional RT treatment plans are based on the Linear Quadratic (LQ) model and utilize standardized alpha and beta ratios (α/β), which ignore the high variability in terms of treatment response between and within patients. Recent advances in radiobiology, as well as general medical technologies, have also driven a shift toward more tailored approaches, including in RT. This review provides an overview of current knowledge and future perspectives for the personalization of RT, highlighting the role of tumor and patient-specific biomarkers, advanced imaging techniques, and novel therapeutic approaches. As an alternative to conventional RT modalities, hadron therapy and Flash RT are discussed as innovative approaches with the potential to improve tumor targeting while sparing normal tissues. Furthermore, the synergistic combination of RT with immunotherapy is discussed as a potential strategy to support antitumor immune responses and overcome resistance. By integrating biological insights, technological innovation, and clinical expertise, personalized radiation therapy may significantly advance the precision oncology paradigm.</jats:p>","journal":"International Journal of Molecular Sciences","year":2025,"id":673847,"datarank":0.38474240361923057,"base_score":2.5649493574615367,"endowment":2.5649493574615367,"self_citation_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":12,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1760610,"name":"Gaia Pucci","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1760613,"name":"Cristiana Alberghina","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1760616,"name":"Luigi Minafra","orcid":"0000-0003-3112-4519","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1760608,"name":"Marco Calvaruso","orcid":"0000-0003-2387-8273","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Radiation Therapy Personalization in Cancer Treatment: Strategies and Perspectives","abstract":"<jats:p>Modern oncology increasingly relies on personalized strategies that aim to customize medical interventions, using both tumor biology and clinical features to enhance efficacy and minimize adverse effects. In recent years, precision medicine has been implemented as part of systemic therapies; however, its integration into radiation therapy (RT) is still a work in progress. Conventional RT treatment plans are based on the Linear Quadratic (LQ) model and utilize standardized alpha and beta ratios (α/β), which ignore the high variability in terms of treatment response between and within patients. Recent advances in radiobiology, as well as general medical technologies, have also driven a shift toward more tailored approaches, including in RT. This review provides an overview of current knowledge and future perspectives for the personalization of RT, highlighting the role of tumor and patient-specific biomarkers, advanced imaging techniques, and novel therapeutic approaches. As an alternative to conventional RT modalities, hadron therapy and Flash RT are discussed as innovative approaches with the potential to improve tumor targeting while sparing normal tissues. Furthermore, the synergistic combination of RT with immunotherapy is discussed as a potential strategy to support antitumor immune responses and overcome resistance. By integrating biological insights, technological innovation, and clinical expertise, personalized radiation therapy may significantly advance the precision oncology paradigm.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":2.3978952727983707,"endowment":2.3978952727983707,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40650150","pmcid":"PMC12250120","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4411960571","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Unione europea—Next Generation EU, Missione 4 Componente 1, CUP B53D23020620006—Ministero Italiano dell’Università e della Ricerca, PRIN 2022","grant_id":"2022PW8R47","title":null},{"funder_name":"Unione europea- Next Generation EU, Missione 4 Componente 1, CUP B53D23020620006 - Ministero Italiano dell'Università e della Ricerca, PRIN 2022","grant_id":"Grant no. 2022PW8R47","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":7.5155,"citation_percentile":0.97823792,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":5},{"year":2026,"count":5}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/26/13/6375/pdf?version=1751532115","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/26/13/6375/pdf?version=1751532115","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/26/13/6375/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26136375","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40650150","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12250120","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12250120","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12250120?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry","Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers","Cancer Research and Treatments","Humans","Precision Medicine","Neoplasms","Immunotherapy","Radiotherapy","Biomarkers, Tumor"],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Immunotherapy","Neoplasms","Radiotherapy","Biomarkers, Tumor","Precision Medicine"],"keywords":["Personalized medicine","Personalization","Precision medicine","Modalities","Radiation therapy","Medical physics","Medicine","Immunotherapy","Radiation oncology","Bioinformatics","Cancer","Computer science","Internal medicine","Biology","Pathology","Radiotherapy","Radiobiology"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Industry, innovation and infrastructure"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-16T14:42:53.612102Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}