Correlations between quantitative parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and vasculogenic mimicry in murine tumor model: a novel noninvasive technique for assessment?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is a novel mechanism of tumor blood supply distinct from endothelial vessel (EV). VM is associated with malignancy, invasion, metastasis, and poor prognosis. Hitherto a noninvasive method for the assessment of VM in vivo has been lacking.

METHODS:

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) was performed to evaluate the quantitative parameters of tumors in mice. CD31 immunohistochemistry-Periodic Acid-Schiff double staining was conducted to identify the VM or EV in tumor tissues. Correlations between perfusion parameters and VM density was analyzed by Pearson correlation test.

RESULTS:

By the 15th day after tumor inoculation, the EV and VM density was 31.15 ± 7.14 and 14.11 ± 2.99 per 200× field. The maximal intensity (IMAX) was 301.19 ± 191.56%, and the rise time (RT), time to peak (TTP) and mean transit time (mTT) were 17.38 ± 7.82 s, 20.27 ± 9.61 s and 58.09 ± 26.44 s, respectively. VM density positively correlated to RT (r = 0.3598, P = 0.0226), TTP (r = 0.3733, P = 0.0177) and mTT(r = 0.6483, P <  0.0001), whereas EV density positively correlated to IMAX (r = 0.4519, P = 0.0034). The vascular diameter of VM was substantially larger than that of EV (43.81 ± 5.88 μm vs 11.21 ± 4.13 μm).

CONCLUSION:

Three quantitative parameters related to VM were obtained and the relationships between CEUS and VM were established. CEUS might thus provide a novel noninvasive method to assess VM in vivo.

• Authors: Yue-Tao Zhou, Wei-Wei Cai, Yue Li, Xiao Jiang, Lei Feng, Qiao-Ying Zhu, Yan-Ling Liu, Yu-Xiao Chen, Shuang-Shuang Li, Bin Du, Florian Lang, Peng-Xi Wu, Li-Ying Qiu
• Journal: Biological procedures online (Biol Proced Online) Vol. 21 Pg. 11 ( 2019) ISSN: 1480-9222 [Print] England
• PMID: 31205452 (Publication Type: Journal Article)