Correlation of a Priori DCE-MRI Data with Ki-67 and HIF-1α Expression Levels in Neck Nodal Metastases: Initial Analysis

Jacobus FA Jansen¹, Diane Carlson¹, Bhuvanesh Singh¹, Hilda Stambuk¹, Ya Wang¹, Dennis Kraus¹, Richard Wong¹, Snehal Patel¹, Jatin Shah¹, Jason Koutcher¹, Amita Shukla-Dave¹

Pretreatment DCE-MRI was performed on neck nodal metastases of 12 patients who underwent surgery. Surgical specimens were analyzed with immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays for Ki-67 (reflecting cellular proliferation) and HIF-1α (hypoxia inducible transcription factor). Spearman correlation was used to correlate DCE-MRI and molecular marker data. Significant correlation results were observed between DCE-MRI data (Ktrans and ve) and tumor hypoxia, and proliferation as measured by Ki67 and HIF-1 expression levels, respectively. Future studies with larger patient populations need to be carried out to confirm pretreatment DCE-MRI findings and molecular marker results in biopsy samples for better patient management.