Correlating Radiomic Features of Heterogeneity on CT with Circulating Tumor DNA in Metastatic Melanoma
Publication: Cancers
Contributing NIHR Cambridge BRC researchers: Andrew B Gill, Leonardo Rundo, Jonathan C. M. Wan, Doreen Lau, Jeries P. Zawaideh, Ramona Woitek, Fulvio Zaccagna, Lucian Beer, Davina Gale, Evis Sala, Dominique-Laurent Couturier, Pippa G. Corrie, Nitzan Rosenfeld and Ferdia A. Gallagher
24 November 2020
The analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) concentrations in blood plasma and the radiomic analysis of tumor images (i.e., quantification of textural features on medical imaging) have both been used to provide information about cancer progression. The purpose of this study was to assess a link between these two different modalities in order to determine whether results from one can be used to predict outcomes from the other.
The results show that radiomics features can predict ctDNA levels in patients with metastatic melanoma even when controlling for other factors such as tumor volume.
This establishes the potential for new biomarkers of tumor progression that could combine the specificity of ctDNA assays with the high-resolution spatial information obtained by imaging. This could enable more accurate assessment of tumor response to treatment and provide clinicians with more timely indications of whether a particular therapeutic option is working or not.
