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The 6th annual meeting to address key issues in positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was held again in Tübingen, Germany, from March 27 to 29, 2017. Over three days of invited plenary lectures, round table discussions and dialogue board deliberations, participants critically assessed the current state of PET/MRI, both clinically and as a research tool, and attempted to chart future directions. The meeting addressed the use of PET/MRI and workflows in oncology, neurosciences, infection, inflammation and chronic pain syndromes, as well as deeper discussions about how best to characterise the tumour microenvironment, optimise the complementary information available from PET and MRI, and how advanced data mining and bioinformatics, as well as information from liquid biomarkers (circulating tumour cells and nucleic acids) and pathology, can be integrated to give a more complete characterisation of disease phenotype. Some issues that have dominated previous meetings, such as the accuracy of MR-based attenuation correction (AC) of the PET scan, were finally put to rest as having been adequately addressed for the majority of clinical situations. Likewise, the ability to standardise PET systems for use in multicentre trials was confirmed, thus removing a perceived barrier to larger clinical imaging trials. The meeting openly questioned whether PET/MRI should, in all cases, be used as a whole-body imaging modality or whether in many circumstances it would best be employed to give an in-depth study of previously identified disease in a single organ or region. The meeting concluded that there is still much work to be done in the integration of data from different fields and in developing a common language for all stakeholders involved. In addition, the participants advocated joint training and education for individuals who engage in routine PET/MRI. It was agreed that PET/MRI can enhance our understanding of normal and disrupted biology, and we are in a position to describe the in vivo nature of disease processes, metabolism, evolution of cancer and the monitoring of response to pharmacological interventions and therapies. As such, PET/MRI is a key to advancing medicine and patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Recently, we have shown that Notch1 inhibition resulted in substantial cell death of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells in vitro. New compounds targeting Notch signal transduction have been developed and are now being tested in clinical trials. However, the tumorigenic role of individual Notch receptors in vivo remains largely unclear. Using a KrasG12D-driven endogenous NSCLC mouse model, we analyzed the effect of conditional Notch1 and Notch2 receptor deletion on NSCLC tumorigenesis. Notch1 deficiency led to a reduced early tumor formation and lower activity of MAPK compared with the controls. Unexpectedly, Notch2 deletion resulted in a dramatically increased carcinogenesis and increased MAPK activity. These mice died significantly earlier due to rapidly growing tumor burden. We found that Notch1 regulates Ras/MAPK pathway via HES1-induced repression of the DUSP1 promoter encoding a phosphatase specifically suppressing pERK1/2. Interestingly, Notch1 but not Notch2 ablation leads to decreased HES1 and DUSP1 expression. However, Notch2-depleted tumors showed an appreciable increase in β-catenin expression, a known activator of HES1 and important lung cancer oncogene. Characteristically for β-catenin upregulation, we found that the majority of Notch2-deficient tumors revealed an undifferentiated phenotype as determined by their morphology, E-Cadherin and TTF1 expression levels. In addition, these carcinomas showed aggressive growth patterns with bronchus invasion and obstruction. Together, we show that Notch2 mediates differentiation and has tumor suppressor functions during lung carcinogenesis, whereas Notch1 promotes tumor initiation and progression. These data are further supported by immunohistochemical analysis of human NSCLC samples showing loss or downregulation of Notch2 compared with normal lung tissue. In conclusion, this is the first study characterizing the in vivo functions of Notch1 and Notch2 in KrasG12D-driven NSCLC tumorigenesis. These data highlight the clinical importance of a thorough understanding of Notch signaling especially with regard to Notch-targeted therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]