title: Associations between Tumor Vascularity, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression and PET/MRI Radiomic Signatures in Primary Clear-Cell-Renal-Cell-Carcinoma: Proof-of-Concept Study.
abstract: Studies have shown that tumor angiogenesis is an essential process for tumor growth, proliferation and metastasis. Also, tumor angiogenesis is an important prognostic factor of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), as well as a factor in guiding treatment with antiangiogenic agents. Here, we attempted to find the associations between tumor angiogenesis and radiomic imaging features from PET/MRI. Specifically, sparse canonical correlation analysis was conducted on 3 feature datasets (i.e., radiomic imaging features, tumor microvascular density (MVD), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression) from 9 patients with primary ccRCC. In order to overcome the potential bias of intratumoral heterogeneity of angiogenesis, this study investigated the relationship between regional expressions of angiogenesis and VEGF, and localized radiomic features from different parts within the tumors. Our study highlighted the significant strong correlations between radiomic features and MVD, and also demonstrated that the spatiotemporal features extracted from DCE-MRI provided stronger radiomic correlation to MVD than the textural features extracted from Dixon sequences and FDG PET. Furthermore, PET/MRI, which takes advantage of the combined functional and structural information, had higher radiomics correlation to MVD than solely utilizing PET or MRI alone.
authors.affiliation: College of Information Science and Technology, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116023, China.|Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Qingbo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, 11217, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 11221, Taiwan.|Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, School of Biomedical Science of Engineering, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 11221, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Sheng-Che
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Weili
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Julia R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fielding
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
authors.forename: W Kimryn
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Rathmell
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Amir H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Khandani
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Urology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Urology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Milowsky
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Samira A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Wallen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dinggang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D000075082:Proof of Concept Study; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D047368:Tumor Burden; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A