Quantitative Micro-Computed Tomography Imaging of Vascular Dysfunction in Progressive Kidney Diseases.

Progressive kidney diseases and renal fibrosis are associated with endothelial injury and capillary rarefaction. However, our understanding of these processes has been hampered by the lack of tools enabling the quantitative and noninvasive monitoring of vessel functionality. Here, we used micro-computed tomography (µCT) for anatomical and functional imaging of vascular alterations in three murine models with distinct mechanisms of progressive kidney injury: ischemia-reperfusion (I/R, days 1-56), unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO, days 1-10), and Alport mice (6-8 weeks old). Contrast-enhanced in vivo µCT enabled robust, noninvasive, and longitudinal monitoring of vessel functionality and revealed a progressive decline of the renal relative blood volume in all models. This reduction ranged from -20% in early disease stages to -61% in late disease stages and preceded fibrosis. Upon Microfil perfusion, high-resolution ex vivo µCT allowed quantitative analyses of three-dimensional vascular networks in all three models. These analyses revealed significant and previously unrecognized alterations of preglomerular arteries: a reduction in vessel diameter, a prominent reduction in vessel branching, and increased vessel tortuosity. In summary, using µCT methodology, we revealed insights into macro-to-microvascular alterations in progressive renal disease and provide a platform that may serve as the basis to evaluate vascular therapeutics in renal disease.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma Xenografts: Use of VEGFR2-targeted Microbubbles for Combined Functional and Molecular US to Monitor Antiangiogenic Therapy Effects.

PURPOSE: To assess the ability of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor type 2 (VEGFR2)-targeted and nontargeted ultrasonography (US) to depict antiangiogenic therapy effects and to investigate whether first-pass kinetics obtained with VEGFR2-targeted microbubbles provide independent data about tumor vascularization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Governmental approval was obtained for animal experiments. Vascularization in response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor or vehicle-control treatment (10 per group) in HaCaT-ras A-5RT3 xenografts was longitudinally assessed in mice by means of first-pass kinetics of nontargeted microbubbles (BR1, BR38; Bracco, Geneva, Switzerland) and VEGFR2-targeted microbubbles (BR55, Bracco) before and 4, 7, and 14 days after therapy. VEGFR2 expression was determined 8 minutes after BR55 injection with destruction-replenishment analysis. US data were validated with immunohistochemistry. Significant differences were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: First-pass analysis with BR1, BR38, and BR55 showed similar tendencies toward decreasing vascularization, with a stronger decrease in tumors treated with anti-VEGF antibody. The median signal intensity (in arbitrary units [au]) of anti-VEGF antibody-treated versus control tumors at day 14 was as follows: BR1, 5.2 au (interquartile range [IQR], 3.2 au) vs 11.3 au (IQR, 10.0 au), respectively; BR38, 6.2 au (IQR, 3.5) vs 10.0 au (IQR, 7.8); and BR55, 9.5 au (IQR, 6.0 au) vs 13.8 au (IQR, 9.8) (P = .0230). VEGFR2 assessment with BR55 demonstrated significant differences between both groups throughout the therapy period (median signal intensity of anti-VEGF antibody-treated vs control tumors: 0.04 au [IQR, 0.1 au] vs 0.14 au [IQR, 0.08 au], respectively, at day 4, P = .0058; 0.04 au [IQR, 0.06 au] vs 0.13 au [IQR, 0.09 au] at day 7, P = .0058; and 0.06 au [IQR, 0.11 au] vs 0.16 au [IQR, 0.15 au] at day 14, P = .0247). Immunohistochemistry confirmed the lower microvessel density and VEGFR2-positive area fraction in tumors treated with anti-VEGF antibody. CONCLUSION: Antiangiogenic therapy effects were detected earlier and more distinctly with VEGFR2-targeted US than with functional US. First-pass analyses with BR55, BR38, and BR1 revealed similar results, with a decrease in vascularization during therapy. Functional data showed that BR55 is not strongly affected by early binding of the microbubbles to VEGFR2. Thus, functional and molecular imaging of angiogenesis can be performed with BR55 within one examination.

Micro-CT imaging of tumor angiogenesis: quantitative measures describing micromorphology and vascularization.

Angiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer, and its noninvasive visualization and quantification are key factors for facilitating translational anticancer research. Using four tumor models characterized by different degrees of aggressiveness and angiogenesis, we show that the combination of functional in vivo and anatomical ex vivo X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT) allows highly accurate quantification of relative blood volume (rBV) and highly detailed three-dimensional analysis of the vascular network in tumors. Depending on the tumor model, rBV values determined using in vivo µCT ranged from 2.6% to 6.0%, and corresponds well with the values assessed using IHC. Using ultra-high-resolution ex vivo µCT, blood vessels as small as 3.4 µm and vessel branches up to the seventh order could be visualized, enabling a highly detailed and quantitative analysis of the three-dimensional micromorphology of tumor vessels. Microvascular parameters such as vessel size and vessel branching correlated very well with tumor aggressiveness and angiogenesis. In rapidly growing and highly angiogenic A431 tumors, the majority of vessels were small and branched only once or twice, whereas in slowly growing A549 tumors, the vessels were much larger and branched four to seven times. Thus, we consider that combining highly accurate functional with highly detailed anatomical µCT is a useful tool for facilitating high-throughput, quantitative, and translational (anti-) angiogenesis and antiangiogenesis research.

Molecular pathways involved in prostate carcinogenesis: insights from public microarray datasets.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is currently the most frequently diagnosed malignancy in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in industrialized countries. Worldwide, an increase in prostate cancer incidence is expected due to an increased life-expectancy, aging of the population and improved diagnosis. Although the specific underlying mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis remain unknown, prostate cancer is thought to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors altering key cellular processes. To elucidate these complex interactions and to contribute to the understanding of prostate cancer progression and metastasis, analysis of large scale gene expression studies using bioinformatics approaches is used to decipher regulation of core processes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, a standardized quality control procedure and statistical analysis (http://www.arrayanalysis.org/) were applied to multiple prostate cancer datasets retrieved from the ArrayExpress data repository and pathway analysis using PathVisio (http://www.pathvisio.org/) was performed. The results led to the identification of three core biological processes that are strongly affected during prostate carcinogenesis: cholesterol biosynthesis, the process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and an increased metabolic activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates how a standardized bioinformatics evaluation of existing microarray data and subsequent pathway analysis can quickly and cost-effectively provide essential information about important molecular pathways and cellular processes involved in prostate cancer development and disease progression. The presented results may assist in biomarker profiling and the development of novel treatment approaches.