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Frankowska K, Zarobkiewicz M, Dąbrowska I, Bojarska-Junak A. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and radiological picture of the tumor. Med Oncol 2023; 40:176. [PMID: 37178270 PMCID: PMC10182948 DOI: 10.1007/s12032-023-02036-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex entity that includes besides the tumor cells also a whole range of immune cells. Among various populations of immune cells infiltrating the tumor, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are a population of lymphocytes characterized by high reactivity against the tumor component. As, TILs play a key role in mediating responses to several types of therapy and significantly improve patient outcomes in some cancer types including for instance breast cancer and lung cancer, their assessment has become a good predictive tool in the evaluation of potential treatment efficacy. Currently, the evaluation of the density of TILs infiltration is performed by histopathological. However, recent studies have shed light on potential utility of several imaging methods, including ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), and radiomics, in the assessment of TILs levels. The greatest attention concerning the utility of radiology methods is directed to breast and lung cancers, nevertheless imaging methods of TILs are constantly being developed also for other malignancies. Here, we focus on reviewing the radiological methods used to assess the level of TILs in different cancer types and on the extraction of the most favorable radiological features assessed by each method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karolina Frankowska
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | - Michał Zarobkiewicz
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
| | - Izabela Dąbrowska
- Department of Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
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Ralli GP, Carter RD, McGowan DR, Cheng WC, Liu D, Teoh EJ, Patel N, Gleeson F, Harris AL, Lord SR, Buffa FM, Fenwick JD. Radiogenomic analysis of primary breast cancer reveals [18F]-fluorodeoxglucose dynamic flux-constants are positively associated with immune pathways and outperform static uptake measures in associating with glucose metabolism. Breast Cancer Res 2022; 24:34. [PMID: 35581637 PMCID: PMC9115966 DOI: 10.1186/s13058-022-01529-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND PET imaging of 18F-fluorodeoxygucose (FDG) is used widely for tumour staging and assessment of treatment response, but the biology associated with FDG uptake is still not fully elucidated. We therefore carried out gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) of RNA sequencing data to find KEGG pathways associated with FDG uptake in primary breast cancers. METHODS Pre-treatment data were analysed from a window-of-opportunity study in which 30 patients underwent static and dynamic FDG-PET and tumour biopsy. Kinetic models were fitted to dynamic images, and GSEA was performed for enrichment scores reflecting Pearson and Spearman coefficients of correlations between gene expression and imaging. RESULTS A total of 38 pathways were associated with kinetic model flux-constants or static measures of FDG uptake, all positively. The associated pathways included glycolysis/gluconeogenesis ('GLYC-GLUC') which mediates FDG uptake and was associated with model flux-constants but not with static uptake measures, and 28 pathways related to immune-response or inflammation. More pathways, 32, were associated with the flux-constant K of the simple Patlak model than with any other imaging index. Numbers of pathways categorised as being associated with individual micro-parameters of the kinetic models were substantially fewer than numbers associated with flux-constants, and lay around levels expected by chance. CONCLUSIONS In pre-treatment images GLYC-GLUC was associated with FDG kinetic flux-constants including Patlak K, but not with static uptake measures. Immune-related pathways were associated with flux-constants and static uptake. Patlak K was associated with more pathways than were the flux-constants of more complex kinetic models. On the basis of these results Patlak analysis of dynamic FDG-PET scans is advantageous, compared to other kinetic analyses or static imaging, in studies seeking to infer tumour-to-tumour differences in biology from differences in imaging. Trial registration NCT01266486, December 24th 2010.
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Affiliation(s)
- G P Ralli
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - R D Carter
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
- Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Sherrington Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK
| | - D R McGowan
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK.
- Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK.
| | - W-C Cheng
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - D Liu
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - E J Teoh
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK
- Molecular Oncology Laboratories, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - N Patel
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK
| | - F Gleeson
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK
| | - A L Harris
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
- Molecular Oncology Laboratories, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - S R Lord
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
- Molecular Oncology Laboratories, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - F M Buffa
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - J D Fenwick
- Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Daulby Street, Liverpool, L69 3GA, UK
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Abstract
The development of tumors requires an initiator event, usually exposure to DNA damaging agents that cause genetic alterations such as gene mutations or chromosomal abnormalities, leading to deregulated cell proliferation. Although the mere stochastic accumulation of further mutations may cause tumor progression, it is now clear that an inflammatory microenvironment has a major tumor-promoting influence on initiated cells, in particular when a chronic inflammatory reaction already existed before the initiated tumor cell was formed. Moreover, inflammatory cells become mobilized in response to signals emanating from tumor cells. In both cases, the microenvironment provides signals that initiated tumor cells perceive by membrane receptors and transduce via downstream kinase cascades to modulate multiple cellular processes and respond with changes in cell gene expression, metabolism, and morphology. Cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors are examples of major signals secreted by immune cells, fibroblast, and endothelial cells and mediate an intricate cell-cell crosstalk in an inflammatory microenvironment, which contributes to increased cancer cell survival, phenotypic plasticity and adaptation to surrounding tissue conditions. Eventually, consequent changes in extracellular matrix stiffness and architecture, coupled with additional genetic alterations, further fortify the malignant progression of tumor cells, priming them for invasion and metastasis. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on the composition of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment, with an emphasis on the major signals and signal-transducing events mediating different aspects of stromal cell-tumor cell communication that ultimately lead to malignant progression.
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