Cong Qingxue, Li Guang, Wang Yongfeng, Zhang Shanguo, Zhang Hao
Department of Radiotherapy, Daqing Longnan Hospital, Daqing, Heilongjiang 163453, P.R. China.
Department of Radiotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2019 Mar;17(3):2770-2776. doi: 10.3892/ol.2019.9934. Epub 2019 Jan 15.
The aim of the present study was to assess the correlations between diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) features with the histologic differentiation and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). A total of 52 patients with ESCC included in the present study received radiotherapy, and all patients underwent contrast enhanced MRI and DW-MRI prior to and following radiotherapy. The diffusion sensitivity coefficient ( value) was set as 800 s/mm. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were automatically computed. VEGF expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. The results demonstrated that the pathological grading of ESCC was positively correlated with ADC values (=0.635, P=0.0007), and the VEGF expression was inversely correlated with ADC values (=-0.321, P=0.008). However, no correlation was identified between the pathological grading and the VEGF expression (=0.178, P=0.284). All patients were categorized as complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) and the ADC values were increased significantly following radiotherapy. The mean ADC values in the CR group were higher than the PR group prior to radiotherapy (=5.156, P=0.0004). Therefore, we concluded that the DWI with ADC value measurement may represent the grade of tumor histologic differentiation and the degree of VEGF expression, and may also serve as a useful marker to predict radiotherapy and anti-VEGF response in ESCC. ADC value may be a substitution for assessing tumor angiogenesis and novel prognostic factor and contribute to the treatment of ESCC.
本研究的目的是评估食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）中扩散加权磁共振成像（DW-MRI）特征与组织学分化及血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）表达之间的相关性。本研究共纳入52例接受放疗的ESCC患者，所有患者在放疗前后均接受了对比增强MRI和DW-MRI检查。扩散敏感系数（ 值）设定为800 s/mm²。表观扩散系数（ADC）值自动计算得出。通过免疫组织化学染色评估VEGF表达。结果表明，ESCC的病理分级与ADC值呈正相关（ =0.635，P=0.0007），VEGF表达与ADC值呈负相关（ =-0.321，P=0.008）。然而，未发现病理分级与VEGF表达之间存在相关性（ =0.178，P=0.284）。所有患者分为完全缓解（CR）或部分缓解（PR），放疗后ADC值显著升高。放疗前CR组的平均ADC值高于PR组（ =5.156，P=0.0004）。因此，我们得出结论，测量ADC值的DWI可能代表肿瘤组织学分化程度和VEGF表达程度，也可作为预测ESCC放疗和抗VEGF反应的有用标志物。ADC值可能是评估肿瘤血管生成的替代指标和新的预后因素，有助于ESCC的治疗。
