Tumor vessel patterns linked to survival in colorectal cancer

In a prospective cohort study of 837 patients with colorectal cancer, researchers found that the density, size, shape and molecular characteristics of blood vessels within tumors were associated with colorectal cancer-specific mortality. Tumors with greater overall blood vessel density and a higher proportion of microvessels were associated with better outcomes, while certain vessel subtypes linked to angiogenesis were associated with poorer outcomes. The study does not establish that changing tumor blood vessels would improve survival, and the authors say additional research is needed to validate the findings and understand how vascular characteristics may influence colorectal cancer outcomes.

The research team used the prospective cohort incident-tumor biobank method to analyze tumor samples from participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, which has run for 50 years, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Researchers from Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health developed a custom in-situ multispectral immunofluorescence assay to visualize and quantify multiple biomarkers in a single tissue section or cell sample. They used the technique to classify more than 61,000 blood vessels in colorectal tumors according to molecular and structural features. AI-based machine learning was then applied to analyze the vessel data faster and more efficiently than traditional methods.

The observed vascular patterns were not all associated with the same prognosis. A higher proportion of microvessels was associated with better outcomes, and smaller, rounder vessels correlated with better outcomes. Larger, more abnormal vessels were associated with worse outcomes. In addition, some vessel subtypes associated with angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, were linked to a poorer prognosis. These results describe relationships between measured tumor characteristics and subsequent mortality; they do not show that the vessel features caused the differences in survival, nor did the study test whether a treatment targeting those vessels would change patient outcomes.

Study author Shuji Ogino, chief of the Program in Molecular Pathological Epidemiology in the Department of Pathology at Mass General Brigham, said the findings indicate that vascular features could serve as prognostic biomarkers, meaning biological or clinical signs that signal the likely course of a disease. He said the results may be useful for risk stratification and precision medicine. The researchers also identified some tumor vessel subtypes as possible therapeutic targets, while noting that a combination of immunotherapy and vessel-targeting therapy would need to be tested in clinical studies before any conclusion about effectiveness could be drawn. The peer-reviewed findings were published in JAMA Network Open, with additional studies needed to validate the results and clarify the role of tumor vascular characteristics in colorectal cancer outcomes.

Subject of Research: Associations between colorectal tumor vascular features and cancer-specific mortality in a prospective cohort of 837 patients

Article Title: Blood vessel features in tumors may help predict patient survival in colorectal cancer

Article References: Blood vessel features in tumors may help predict patient survival in colorectal cancer. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: colorectal cancer, tumor blood vessels, cancer-specific mortality, prognostic biomarkers, microvessels, angiogenesis, multispectral immunofluorescence, machine learning, prospective cohort, Blood, vessel, features