A new prognostic hypoxia biomarker consisting of imaging and gene-based data.

In the research article of EBioMedicine [1], Fjeldbo and colleagues developed a combined biomarker based on hypoxic fraction from dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI imaging and genetic data of cervical cancer. They were able to predict the response to radiochemotherapy of these patients. The patients were divided into groups less or more hypoxic, based on a previously defines cut-off for the gene-based biomarkers (6 hypoxia-related genes) [2]. In the same group of 41 patients, a cut-off for the imaging biomarker was newly assessed by analyzing DCE-MRI data and using ABrix-images as parameter for the hypoxic fraction. In the next step these cut-offs were validated in 77 patients and subsequently a combined hypoxic biomarker was generated. The combination of the biomarkers revealed the same hypoxic status in 75% of the 118 patients. Therefore, besides the more and less hypoxic group, a third group with different hypoxia status was constituted.