Song Chenyu, Huang Mengqi, Zhou Xiaoqi, Chen Yuying, Li Zhoulei, Tang Mimi, Chen Meicheng, Peng Zhenpeng, Feng Shiting
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, P. R. China.
Gastroenterol Rep (Oxf). 2024 Feb 26;12:goae009. doi: 10.1093/gastro/goae009. eCollection 2024.
The immune microenvironment (IME) is closely associated with prognosis and therapeutic response of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC). Multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables non-invasive assessment of IME and predicts prognosis in HBV-HCC. We aimed to construct an MRI prediction model of the immunocyte-infiltration subtypes and explore its prognostic significance.
HBV-HCC patients at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) with radical surgery (between 1 October and 30 December 2021) were prospectively enrolled. Patients with pathologically proven HCC (between 1 December 2013 and 30 October 2019) were retrospectively enrolled. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the immunocyte-infiltration counts and MRI parameters. An MRI prediction model of immunocyte-infiltration subtypes was constructed in prospective cohort. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyse its prognostic significance in the retrospective cohort.
Twenty-four patients were prospectively enrolled to construct the MRI prediction model. Eighty-nine patients were retrospectively enrolled to determine its prognostic significance. MRI parameters (relative enhancement, ratio of the apparent diffusion coefficient value of tumoral region to peritumoral region [rADC], T1 value) correlated significantly with the immunocyte-infiltration counts (leukocytes, T help cells, PD1+Tc cells, B lymphocytes). rADC differed significantly between high and low immunocyte-infiltration groups (1.47 ± 0.36 vs 1.09 ± 0.25, =0.009). The area under the curve of the MRI model was 0.787 (95% confidence interval 0.587-0.987). Based on the MRI model, the recurrence-free time was longer in the high immunocyte-infiltration group than in the low immunocyte-infiltration group (=0.026).
MRI is a non-invasive method for assessing the IME and immunocyte-infiltration subtypes, and predicting prognosis in post-operative HBV-HCC patients.
免疫微环境（IME）与乙型肝炎病毒相关肝细胞癌（HBV-HCC）的预后和治疗反应密切相关。多参数磁共振成像（MRI）能够对IME进行无创评估，并预测HBV-HCC的预后。我们旨在构建免疫细胞浸润亚型的MRI预测模型，并探讨其预后意义。
前瞻性纳入中山大学附属第一医院（中国广州）接受根治性手术（2021年10月1日至12月31日）的HBV-HCC患者。回顾性纳入病理证实为HCC的患者（2013年12月1日至2019年10月31日）。采用Pearson相关性分析检验免疫细胞浸润计数与MRI参数之间的关系。在前瞻性队列中构建免疫细胞浸润亚型的MRI预测模型。采用Kaplan-Meier生存分析在回顾性队列中分析其预后意义。
前瞻性纳入24例患者构建MRI预测模型。回顾性纳入89例患者确定其预后意义。MRI参数（相对增强、肿瘤区域与瘤周区域表观扩散系数值之比[rADC]、T1值）与免疫细胞浸润计数（白细胞、辅助性T细胞、PD1+Tc细胞、B淋巴细胞）显著相关。高免疫细胞浸润组与低免疫细胞浸润组的rADC差异显著（1.47±0.36 vs 1.09±0.25，P=0.009）。MRI模型的曲线下面积为0.787（95%置信区间0.587-0.987）。基于MRI模型，高免疫细胞浸润组的无复发生存时间长于低免疫细胞浸润组（P=0.026）。
MRI是评估IME和免疫细胞浸润亚型以及预测术后HBV-HCC患者预后的无创方法。
