title: Lung tumour growth kinetics in SPC-c-Raf-1-BB transgenic mice assessed by longitudinal in-vivo micro-CT quantification.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  SPC-c-Raf-1-BxB transgenic mice develop genetically induced disseminated lung adenocarcinoma allowing examination of carcinogenesis and evaluation of novel treatment strategies. We report on assessment of lung tumour growth kinetics using a semiautomated region growing segmentation algorithm.
  
  
  METHODS
  156 non contrast-enhanced respiratory gated micro-CT of the lungs were obtained in 12 SPC-raf transgenic (n = 9) and normal (n = 3) mice at different time points. Region-growing segmentation of the aerated lung areas was obtained as an inverse surrogate for tumour burden. Time course of segmentation volumes was assessed to demonstrate the potential of the method for follow-up studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Micro-CT allowed assessment of tumour growth kinetics and semiautomated region growing enabled quantitative analysis. Significant changes of the segmented lung volumes over time could be shown (p = 0.009). Significant group differences could be detected between transgenic and normal animals for time points 8 to 13 months (p = 0.043), when marked tumour progression occurred.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presented region-growing segmentation algorithm allows in-vivo quantification of multifocal lung adenocarcinoma in SPC-raf transgenic mice. This enables the assessment of tumour load and progress for the study of carcinogenesis and the evaluation of novel treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. rodt.thomas@mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rodt
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: von Falck
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dettmer
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hueper
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halter
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hoy
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luepke
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borlak
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wacker
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D037721:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C / Q000235:genetics*; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D037721:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf