Tumor Microenvironment: Insights from Multiparametric MRI in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

作者：Ramesh Paudyal, James Russell, H. Carl Lekaye, Joseph O. Deasy, John L. Humm, Muhammad Awais, Saad Nadeem, Richard K. G. Do, Eileen M. O’Reilly, Lawrence H. Schwartz, Amita Shukla-Dave · 发表于：Cancers · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3390/cancers18020273 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Pancreatic and Hepatic Oncology Research、MRI in cancer diagnosis、Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment

Background/Objectives: The tumor microenvironment (TME) of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by an enriched stroma, hampering the effectiveness of therapy. This co-clinical study aimed to (1) provide insight into early post-treatment changes in the TME using multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)-derived quantitative imaging biomarkers (QIBs) in a preclinical PDAC model treated with radiotherapy and correlate these QIBs with histology; (2) evaluate the feasibility of obtaining these QIBs in patients with PDAC using clinically approved mpMRI data acquisitions. Methods: Athymic mice (n = 12) at pre- and post-treatment as well as patients with PDAC (n = 11) at pre-treatment underwent mpMRI including diffusion-weighted (DW) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) data acquisition sequences. DW and DCE data were analyzed using monoexponential and extended Tofts models, respectively. DeepLIIF quantified the total percentage (%) of tumor cells in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained tissues from athymic mice. Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were performed for statistical analysis. Results: In the preclinical PDAC model, mean pre- and post-treatment ADC and Ktrans values differed significantly (p < 0.01), changing by 20.50% and 20.41%, respectively, and the median total tumor cells quantified by DeepLIIF was 24% (range: 15–53%). Post-treatment ADC values and relative change in ve (rΔve) showed a significant negative correlation...