Consultation scheduled on European Parliament and Council over proposed legislative resolution outlining European Parliament's part in combatting cancer.
At the recent Medical Sunday event in Magdeburg, Prof. Dr. med. Dimitrios Mougiakakos and Prof. Dr. med. Michael Kreißl discussed the current state of precision medicine in modern cancer treatment, particularly its impact on immunotherapy and theranostics, with a focus on leukemia and other hematological cancers.
Immunotherapy has evolved from generic approaches to highly targeted strategies that leverage the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. This includes engineered T-cell therapies such as CAR-T cells, now standard for certain leukemias and lymphomas. The success of immunotherapy relies on detailed molecular profiling and patient-specific biomarkers to select appropriate candidates and improve outcomes.
Theranostics, the integration of diagnostics and therapeutics, enables personalized treatment by combining molecular imaging and targeted delivery of therapies tailored to the cancer’s unique biological signature. This approach has become essential in hematological cancers, allowing more precise detection, monitoring, and treatment adaptations over time.
The experts emphasized the importance of multi-omics technologies (analyzing DNA, RNA, and proteins) to create comprehensive patient profiles, which underpin the precise deployment of immunotherapy and theranostic agents. This precision approach is pivotal in managing complex diseases like leukemia, where treatment can be calibrated against the tumor’s evolving molecular landscape.
The focus of the event, "From Immunotherapy to Theranostics: Precision Medicine in Modern Cancer Treatment," highlighted challenges such as access and integration of precision medicine tools in routine clinical practice, especially outside specialized centers. This includes barriers in community settings related to biomarker testing, data interpretation, and the cost of advanced diagnostics.
Prof. Mougiakakos, who has been working in the field of blood and lymphatic cancer for over 15 years, and Prof. Kreißl provided insights into current procedures, innovative techniques, and gentle methods in cancer treatment. The discussion aligns with broader trends in 2025 where AI, multi-omics, and gene/cell therapies converge to enhance personalized cancer care, projecting improvements in response rates and survival for hematological malignancies among other cancers.
The University Medicine Magdeburg offers a specialized stationary area with the internationally recognized JACIE quality seal for stem cell transplantation and CAR-T cell therapy. The next Medical Sunday event will be held on August 17, 2025, from 10:30 to 12:00, at Auditorium 1 of the main campus, Building 26 (near the university library), Pfälzer Straße, 39114 Magdeburg. Admission to the event is free. After the lectures, interested parties have the opportunity to discuss their questions directly with the physicians.
Cancer can affect almost any organ and spread to adjacent tissue or other body regions via blood and lymph vessels (metastasis). In leukemia, precursor cells of white blood cells in the bone marrow become malignant. Modern approaches in nuclear medicine, particularly theranostics, are opening new perspectives in personalized cancer treatment for hematological neoplasms.
The Medical Sunday is a cooperation between Urania Magdeburg e.V., Volksstimme, and the University Medicine Magdeburg, providing insights into numerous medical topics. The goal of modern cancer treatments is to make therapies more targeted, effective, and tolerable - tailored to the individual properties of the tumor.
- The University Medicine Magdeburg hosts a specialized area for stem cell transplantation and CAR-T cell therapy, emphasizing their commitment to advanced therapies in cancer treatment.
- In light of the current state of precision medicine, medical-conditions like chronic kidney disease and mental health also benefit from therapies and treatments that can be customized to the individual's unique biological signature, as in the case of personalized health and wellness plans.
- With the emergence of immunotherapy and theranostics, cancer treatment has evolved to target chronic diseases like chronic-kidney-disease or cancer, using the patient’s own immune system and tailored diagnostics and therapeutics.
- At the recent Medical Sunday event, the impact of precision medicine on the treatment of chronic-diseases, such as chronic kidney disease or cancer, was discussed along with developments in implementing these techniques in routine clinical practice, beyond specialized centers.
