Cited by 297Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical ImagingCancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersImage Retrieval and Classification Techniques

Changes in CT Radiomic Features Associated with Lymphocyte Distribution Predict Overall Survival and Response to Immunotherapy in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

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Abstract

Abstract No predictive biomarkers can robustly identify patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who will benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies. Here, in a machine learning setting, we compared changes (“delta”) in the radiomic texture (DelRADx) of CT patterns both within and outside tumor nodules before and after two to three cycles of ICI therapy. We found that DelRADx patterns could predict response to ICI therapy and overall survival (OS) for patients with NSCLC. We retrospectively analyzed data acquired from 139 patients with NSCLC at two institutions, who were divided into a discovery set (D1 = 50) and two independent validation sets (D2 = 62, D3 = 27). Intranodular and perinodular texture descriptors were extracted, and the relative differences were computed. A linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier was trained with 8 DelRADx features to predict RECIST-derived response. Association of delta-radiomic risk score (DRS) with OS was determined. The association of DelRADx features with tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) density on the diagnostic biopsies (n = 36) was also evaluated. The LDA classifier yielded an AUC of 0.88 ± 0.08 in distinguishing responders from nonresponders in D1, and 0.85 and 0.81 in D2 and D3. DRS was associated with OS [HR: 1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22–2.21; P = 0.0011; C-index = 0.72). Peritumoral Gabor features were associated with the density of TILs on diagnostic biopsy samples. Our results show that DelRADx could be used to identify early functional responses in patients with NSCLC.

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  • Previous studies have primarily focused on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, which only provide a simplified and partial view of the TME.

    “First, previous studies have primarily focused on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes,12,26 which only provide a simplified and partial view of the TME.”

    From Non-invasive tumor microenvironment evaluation and treatment response prediction in gastric cancer using deep learning radiomics (2023) · cites this paper as [26]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) describes previous studies of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and their association with immunotherapy response. It does not establish that previous studies primarily focused on lymphocytes. The Introduction discusses other tumor-microenvironment factors, but the paper does not explicitly characterize lymphocytes as providing only a simplified, partial view. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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References 73 · Cited by 297

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Authors
Khorrami, M., Prasanna, P., Gupta, A., Patil, P., Velu, P. D., Thawani, R., Corredor, G., Alilou, M., Bera, K., Fu, P., Feldman, M., Velcheti, V., & Madabhushi, A.
Affiliations
  • Case Western Reserve University (US)
  • University Hospitals of Cleveland (US)
  • Cleveland Clinic (US)
  • Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
  • Maimonides Medical Center (US)
  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • NYU Langone Health (US)
  • Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Madabhushi, Anant
Venue
Cancer Immunology Research
Published
2020-01-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
108-119
ISSN
  • 2326-6066 (ISSN-L)
  • 2326-6074
OpenAlex
W2983529249
Cited by
297
References
73
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 63 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 25
FWCI
20.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cancer Immunology Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • NCI NIH (1U24CA199374-01, R01CA202752-01A1, R01CA208236-01A1, R01CA216579-01A1, R01CA220581-01A1)
  • National Center for Research Resources (1 C06 RR12463-01)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Image Retrieval and Classification Techniques
Keywords
non-small cell lung cancer, radiomics, immune checkpoint inhibitors, immunotherapy response prediction, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, CT texture analysis, overall survival, predictive biomarkers, RECIST response
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Female, Humans, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Immunotherapy, Lung Neoplasms, Male, Middle Aged, Predictive Value of Tests, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, Biomarkers, Tumor, Survival Rate, Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating, Treatment Outcome, Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor

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