A Metabolism-Related Radiomics Signature for Predicting the Prognosis of Colorectal Cancer

Background: Radiomics refers to the extraction of a large amount of image information from medical images, which can provide decision support for clinicians. In this study, we developed and validated a radiomics-based nomogram to predict the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: A total of 381 patients with colorectal cancer (primary cohort: n = 242; validation cohort: n = 139) were enrolled and radiomic features were extracted from the vein phase of preoperative computed tomography (CT). The radiomics score was generated by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm (LASSO). A nomogram was constructed by combining the radiomics score with clinicopathological risk factors for predicting the prognosis of CRC patients. The performance of the nomogram was evaluated by the calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and C-index statistics. Functional analysis and correlation analysis were used to explore the underlying association between radiomic feature and the gene-expression patterns. Results: Five radiomic features were selected to calculate the radiomics score by using the LASSO regression model. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that radiomics score was significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS) [primary cohort: hazard ratio (HR): 5.65, 95% CI: 2.26–14.13, P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 8.49, 95% CI: 2.05–35.17, P < 0.001]. Multivariable analysis confirmed the independent prognostic value of radiomics score (primary cohort: HR: 5.35, 95% CI: 2.14–13.39, P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 5.19, 95% CI: 1.22–22.00, P = 0.026). We incorporated radiomics signature with the TNM stage to build a nomogram, which performed better than TNM stage alone. The C-index of the nomogram achieved 0.74 (0.69–0.80) in the primary cohort and 0.82 (0.77–0.87) in the validation cohort. Functional analysis and correlation analysis found that the radiomic signatures were mainly associated with metabolism related pathways. Conclusions: The radiomics score derived from the preoperative CT image was an independent prognostic factor and could be a complement to the current staging strategies of colorectal cancer.