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Functional MR imaging of tumor angiogenesis predicts outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Leukemia volume 20, pages 357–362 (2006)Cite this article

It is well recognized that angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor development, progression and metastasis,1 and also correlates with clinical outcome in cancer patients with melanoma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and recently in leukemia and lymphoma.2

Microvessel density (MVD) shown by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD31 is a ‘gold standard’ for the detection of angiogenesis in tumor tissue. MVD is increased in AML patients with active disease in comparison to normal controls or patients in remission.3 However, MVD can only be measured in the very limited area of the bone marrow needle biopsy specimen and is unable to assess global or in vivo tumor angiogenesis. The functional status of the blood vessel (e.g. permeability) could not be determined by MVD. Moreover, MVD cannot determine whether a particular therapeutic compound is primarily directed against the angiogenic response of the tumor.4 Thus, the needs of a rapid and effective angiodiagnostic imaging to establish antiangiogenic drug dosage or monitor treatment response is important.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Timothy K Shih, Department of Computer Engineering, Tamkang University, Taiwan for the designing of the computer program used for color-coding angiogenesis image.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Imaging and Radiology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    T T-F Shih

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    H-F Tien & P-C Yang

  3. Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-Y Liu

  4. Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    W-P Su

  5. Department of Medical Research, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    W-K Chan

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  1. T T-F Shih
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Correspondence to H-F Tien or P-C Yang.

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Shih, TF., Tien, HF., Liu, CY. et al. Functional MR imaging of tumor angiogenesis predicts outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia 20, 357–362 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404066

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