Multimodal Molecular Imaging of the Tumour Microenvironment

The tumour microenvironment (TME) surrounding tumour cells is a highly dynamic and heterogeneous composition of immune cells, fibroblasts, precursor cells, endothelial cells, signalling molecules and extracellular matrix (ECM) components. Due to the heterogeneity and the constant crosstalk between the TME and the tumour cells, the components of the TME are important prognostic parameters in cancer and determine the response to novel immunotherapies. To improve the characterization of the TME, novel non-invasive imaging paradigms targeting the complexity of the TME are urgently needed.