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

• Published in: Biological procedures online 2019-06, Vol.21 (1), p.11-11, Article 11
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yue-Tao, Cai, Wei-Wei, Li, Yue, Jiang, Xiao, Feng, Lei, Zhu, Qiao-Ying, Liu, Yan-Ling, Chen, Yu-Xiao, Li, Shuang-Shuang, Du, Bin, Lang, Florian, Wu, Peng-Xi, Qiu, Li-Ying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Angiogenesis; Binding sites; Breast cancer; Cancer metastasis; Cardiovascular disease; Contrast agents; Development and progression; Endothelium; Immunohistochemistry; Inoculation; Laboratory animals; Liver cancer; Malignancy; Medical imaging; Medical research; Metastases; Metastasis; Mimicry; NMR; Novels; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Perfusion; Prognosis; Prostate; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound
• ISSN: 1480-9222; 1480-9222
• DOI: 10.1186/s12575-019-0101-5

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. 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. 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 (  = 0.3598,  = 0.0226), TTP (  = 0.3733,  = 0.0177) and mTT(  = 0.6483,