Science Daily (3/24) reported that researchers at the University of California-San Diego’s School of Medicine "have shown that Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology has the potential to non-invasively characterize tumors and determine which of them may be responsive to specific forms of treatment, based on their specific molecular properties." To do this, Michael Kuo, M.D., and colleagues, "analyzed more than 2,000 genes that had previously been shown to have altered expression in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors." After "mapp[ing] the correlations between gene expression and MRI features," the researchers "identified characteristic imaging features associated with overall survival of patients with GBM, the most common and lethal type of primary brain tumor." They "discovered five distinct MRI features that were significantly linked with particular gene expression patterns."
The AFP (3/25) adds that, while the "study was focused on mapping the molecular features of the most common and deadly primary brain tumor," it could also "be used to better identify other tumor types." The study can be found in the Mar. 24 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
