Predictive potential of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and plasma-derived angiogenic factors for response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy in human papillomavirus-negative oropharyngeal cancer.

Background: Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) can assess tumour vascularity, which depends on the process of angiogenesis and affects tumour response to treatment. Our study explored the associations between DCE-MRI parameters and the expression of plasma angiogenic factors in human papilloma virus (HPV)-negative oropharyngeal cancer, as well as their predictive value for response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT).
Patients and Methods: Twenty-five patients with locally advanced HPV-negative oropharyngeal carcinoma were prospectively enrolled in the study. DCE-MRI and blood plasma sampling were conducted before cCRT, after receiving a radiation dose of 20 Gy, and after the completion of cCRT. Perfusion parameters k _trans , k _ep , V _e , initial area under the curve (iAUC) and plasma expression levels of angiogenic factors (vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF], connective tissue growth factor [CTGF], platelet-derived growth factor [PDGF]-AB, angiogenin [ANG], endostatin [END] and thrombospondin-1 [THBS1]) were measured at each time-point. Patients were stratified into responders and non-responders based on clinical evaluation. Differences and correlations between measures were used to generate prognostic models for response prediction.
Results: Higher perfusion parameter k _trans and higher plasma VEGF levels successfully discriminated responders from non-responders across all measured time-points, whereas higher iAUC and higher plasma PDGF-AB levels were also discriminative at selected time points. Using early intra-treatment measurements of k _trans and VEGF, a predictive model was created with cut-off values of 0.259 min ^-1 for k _trans and 62.5 pg/mL for plasma VEGF.
Conclusions: Early intra-treatment DCE-MRI parameter k _trans and plasma VEGF levels may be valuable early predictors of response to cCRT in HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer.
(© 2024 Alja Longo et al., published by Sciendo.)