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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Angiogenic factors may be valuable indices of tumor recurrence and treatment and potentially useful markers for predicting the response to antiangiogenesis therapy. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are major drivers of tumor angiogenesis. Preoperatively predicting the expression of VEGF and MMPs is crucial for treating HCC. Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has been successfully used in the differential diagnosis of HCC, pathological grading, and treatment response evaluation. However, the correlations between IVIM-DWI parameters and VEGF and MMP expression have not been reported. This study provides a preliminary analysis of the correlation between IVIM-DWI parameters and the expression of VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 to investigate the value of IVIM-DWI in the noninvasive evaluation of angiogenesis in HCC. Methods: IVIM-DWI was performed in 61 patients with HCC 1 week before they underwent surgical resection. VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 expression was detected using immunohistochemistry staining. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations between the IVIM-DWI parameters and VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 expression in HCC. Results: The fast apparent diffusion coefficient fraction (f) value was positively correlated with the expression of VEGF (P<0.001), MMP-2 (P=0.002), and MMP-9 (P<0.001). The fast apparent diffusion coefficient (D*) was positively correlated with VEGF (P<0.001) and MMP-9 (P<0.001) expression but was not correlated with MMP-2 (P=0.659) expression. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and slow apparent diffusion coefficient (D) values were not significantly correlated with the expression of VEGF (P=0.103 and P=0.543, respectively), MMP-2 (P=0.596 and P=0.338, respectively), or MMP-9 (P=0.102 and P=0.660, respectively). Conclusions: IVIM-DWI can be used to noninvasively evaluate angiogenesis in HCC.
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BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer in the world and the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Although the diagnostic scheme of HCC is currently undergoing refinement, the prognosis of HCC is still not satisfactory. In addition to certain factors, such as tumor size and number and vascular invasion displayed on traditional imaging, some histopathological features and gene expression parameters are also important for the prognosis of HCC patients. However, most parameters are based on postoperative pathological examinations, which cannot help with preoperative decision-making. As a new field, radiomics extracts high-throughput imaging data from different types of images to build models and predict clinical outcomes noninvasively before surgery, rendering it a powerful aid for making personalized treatment decisions preoperatively. OBJECTIVE: This study reviewed the workflow of radiomics and the research progress on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC. METHODS: A literature review was conducted by searching PubMed for search of relevant peer-reviewed articles published from May 2017 to June 2021.The search keywords included HCC, MRI, radiomics, deep learning, artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural network, texture analysis, diagnosis, histopathology, microvascular invasion, surgical resection, radiofrequency, recurrence, relapse, transarterial chemoembolization, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, therapeutic response, and prognosis. RESULTS: Radiomics features on MRI can be used as biomarkers to determine the differential diagnosis, histological grade, microvascular invasion status, gene expression status, local and systemic therapeutic responses, and prognosis of HCC patients. CONCLUSION: Radiomics is a promising new imaging method. MRI radiomics has high application value in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.
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In this work, the decolorization of azo dye Orange G (OG) in aqueous solution by aluminum powder enhanced by ultrasonic irradiation (AlP-UI) was investigated. The effects of various operating operational parameters such as the initial pH, initial OG concentration, AlP dosage, ultrasound power and added hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration were studied. The results showed that the decolorization rate was enhanced when the aqueous OG was irradiated simultaneously by ultrasound in the AlP-acid systems. The decolorization rate decreased with the increase of both initial pH values of 2.0-4.0 and OG initial concentrations of 10-80mg/L, increased with the ultrasound power enhancing from 500 to 900W. An optimum value was reached at 2.0g/L of the AlP dosage in the range of 0.5-2.5g/L. The decolorization rate enhanced significantly by the addition of hydrogen peroxide in the range of 10-100mM to AlP-UI system reached an optimum value of 0.1491min(-1). The decolorization of OG appears to involve primarily oxidative steps, the cleavage of NN bond, which were verificated by the intermediate products of OG under the optimal tested degradation system, aniline and 1-amino-2-naphthol-6,8-disulfonate detected by the LC-MS.