Open AccessMultiparametric MRI for assessment of early response to neoadjuvant sunitinib in renal cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Stephan Ursprung,
Andrew N. Priest,
Fulvio Zaccagna,
Wendi Qian,
Andrea Machin,
Grant D. Stewart,
Anne Y. Warren,
Timothy Eisen,
Sarah J. Welsh,
Ferdia A. Gallagher,
Tristan Barrett
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0258988
Subject(s) - sunitinib , medicine , renal cell carcinoma , urology , magnetic resonance imaging , response evaluation criteria in solid tumors , nuclear medicine , imaging biomarker , oncology , radiology , clinical trial , phases of clinical research
Purpose To detect early response to sunitinib treatment in metastatic clear cell renal cancer (mRCC) using multiparametric MRI. Method Participants with mRCC undergoing pre-surgical sunitinib therapy in the prospective NeoSun clinical trial (EudraCtNo: 2005-004502-82) were imaged before starting treatment, and after 12 days of sunitinib therapy using morphological MRI sequences, advanced diffusion-weighted imaging, measurements of R 2 * (related to hypoxia) and dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging. Following nephrectomy, participants continued treatment and were followed-up with contrast-enhanced CT. Changes in imaging parameters before and after sunitinib were assessed with the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the log-rank test was used to assess effects on survival. Results 12 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. After 12 days, the solid and necrotic tumor volumes decreased by 28% and 17%, respectively (p = 0.04). However, tumor-volume reduction did not correlate with progression-free or overall survival (PFS/OS). Sunitinib therapy resulted in a reduction in median solid tumor diffusivity D from 1298x10 -6 to 1200x10 -6 mm 2 /s (p = 0.03); a larger decrease was associated with a better RECIST response (p = 0.02) and longer PFS (p = 0.03) on the log-rank test. An increase in R2* from 19 to 28s -1 (p = 0.001) was observed, paralleled by a decrease in K trans from 0.415 to 0.305min -1 (p = 0.01) and a decrease in perfusion fraction from 0.34 to 0.19 (p<0.001). Conclusions Physiological imaging confirmed efficacy of the anti-angiogenic agent 12 days after initiating therapy and demonstrated response to treatment. The change in diffusivity shortly after starting pre-surgical sunitinib correlated to PFS in mRCC undergoing nephrectomy, however, no parameter predicted OS. Trial registration EudraCtNo: 2005-004502-82 .