Multiparametric MRI for assessment of early response to neoadjuvant sunitinib in renal cell carcinoma

PURPOSE: To detect early response to sunitinib treatment in metastatic clear cell renal cancer (mRCC) using multiparametric MRI. METHOD: Participants with mRCC undergoing pre-surgical sunitinib therapy in the prospective NeoSun clinical trial (EudraCtNo: 2005-004502-82) were imaged before starting treatment, and after 12 days of sunitinib therapy using morphological MRI sequences, advanced diffusion-weighted imaging, measurements of R(2)* (related to hypoxia) and dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging. Following nephrectomy, participants continued treatment and were followed-up with contrast-enhanced CT. Changes in imaging parameters before and after sunitinib were assessed with the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the log-rank test was used to assess effects on survival. RESULTS: 12 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. After 12 days, the solid and necrotic tumor volumes decreased by 28% and 17%, respectively (p = 0.04). However, tumor-volume reduction did not correlate with progression-free or overall survival (PFS/OS). Sunitinib therapy resulted in a reduction in median solid tumor diffusivity D from 1298x10(-6) to 1200x10(-6)mm(2)/s (p = 0.03); a larger decrease was associated with a better RECIST response (p = 0.02) and longer PFS (p = 0.03) on the log-rank test. An increase in R2* from 19 to 28s(-1) (p = 0.001) was observed, paralleled by a decrease in K(trans) from 0.415 to 0.305min(-1) (p = 0.01) and a decrease in perfusion fraction from 0.34 to 0.19 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Physiological imaging confirmed efficacy of the anti-angiogenic agent 12 days after initiating therapy and demonstrated response to treatment. The change in diffusivity shortly after starting pre-surgical sunitinib correlated to PFS in mRCC undergoing nephrectomy, however, no parameter predicted OS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: EudraCtNo: 2005-004502-82.