Greco Federico, Panunzio Andrea, Cerroni Laura, Cea Laura, Bernetti Caterina, Tafuri Alessandro, Beomonte Zobel Bruno, Mallio Carlo Augusto
Department of Radiology, Cittadella della Salute, Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Lecce, Piazza Filippo Bottazzi, 2, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Research Unit of Radiology, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Roma, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Nov 23;25(23):12587. doi: 10.3390/ijms252312587.
Radiogenomics is an emerging field that links imaging features with molecular characteristics of diseases. In clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), metabolic reprogramming leads to lipid accumulation, influenced by the adipose differentiation-related protein (ADFP). This study aimed to investigate whether hepatic and tumoral Hounsfield Unit (HU) values could serve as noninvasive radiogenomic biomarkers for ADFP expression in ccRCC. We analyzed CT images of 185 ccRCC patients, comparing lipid-associated HU values in the liver and tumor across ADFP expression statuses. Patients with low-grade ccRCC expressing ADFP showed significantly lower minimum HU values in both liver and tumor tissue, indicating greater lipid accumulation. Additionally, ADFP expression correlated negatively with abdominal adipose tissue compartments and positively with minimum tumoral HU values, linking systemic lipid metabolism to tumor biology. These findings suggest that hepatic and tumoral HU measurements may serve as noninvasive markers of lipid accumulation related to ADFP, providing insight into metabolic alterations in ccRCC. While promising, these results require validation in larger, controlled studies due to sample size and variability limitations. This approach could enhance the radiogenomic assessment of ccRCC, supporting noninvasive insights into tumor metabolism and progression.
放射基因组学是一个新兴领域，它将成像特征与疾病的分子特征联系起来。在透明细胞肾细胞癌（ccRCC）中，代谢重编程导致脂质积累，这受到脂肪分化相关蛋白（ADFP）的影响。本研究旨在调查肝脏和肿瘤的亨氏单位（HU）值是否可作为ccRCC中ADFP表达的非侵入性放射基因组生物标志物。我们分析了185例ccRCC患者的CT图像，比较了不同ADFP表达状态下肝脏和肿瘤中与脂质相关的HU值。低级别且表达ADFP的ccRCC患者在肝脏和肿瘤组织中的最低HU值均显著较低，表明脂质积累更多。此外，ADFP表达与腹部脂肪组织区域呈负相关，与肿瘤最低HU值呈正相关，将全身脂质代谢与肿瘤生物学联系起来。这些发现表明，肝脏和肿瘤的HU测量可能作为与ADFP相关的脂质积累的非侵入性标志物，为ccRCC的代谢改变提供见解。虽然前景广阔，但由于样本量和变异性限制，这些结果需要在更大规模的对照研究中进行验证。这种方法可以加强ccRCC的放射基因组评估，支持对肿瘤代谢和进展的非侵入性洞察。
