Radiomics in Mesothelioma: A Step Forward in Personalized Medicine

Malignant mesothelioma is a challenging cancer to treat. New therapies like T cell receptor fusion constructs (TRuCs) show promise. Yet, identifying which patients will benefit from these treatments is important. Radiomics, a field that extracts data from medical images, offers a potential solution. Radiomics may predict treatment responses based on imaging features.

Radiomics to Predict Tumor Response

In a recent pilot study, researchers looked data from 23 clinical trial patients. They used radiomics to extract features from imaging scans of 85 target tumors. The goal was to predict how these tumors would respond to TRuC-T cell therapy.

Most tumors (55.3%) were in the pleura (lining of the lungs), with others in lymph nodes, peritoneum, and soft tissues. This distribution influenced the choice of radiomics features for analysis.

The study found that some radiomics features were more reproducible than others. This depended on the tumor’s location. This variability highlights the need to select features carefully for accurate predictions.

Using a machine learning model, researchers were able to predict tumor response with high accuracy. This suggests that radiomics can help identify which patients are likely to benefit from TRuC-T cell therapy.

While this study shows promise, there are limitations to consider. The sample size was small, and the study did not address how to translate these findings into clinical practice. Future research should focus on validating these results in larger cohorts and developing standardized methods for predicting treatment responses.

Future Directions

Radiomics in mesothelioma is a promising approach that could improve patient outcomes. By leveraging advanced imaging techniques and machine learning, researchers are paving the way for more personalized and effective cancer treatments.

Source:

Hubert Beaumont, Antoine Iannessi, Alexandre Thinnes et al. Radiomics-based prediction of treatment response to TRuC-T cell therapy in patients with mesothelioma: a pilot study, 07 February 2024, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3930436/v1