High resolution three-dimensional micro-CT imaging of therapy induced changes in tumor vascularization

In the project 'High resolution three-dimensional (3D) micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging of the therapy induced changes in tumor vascularisation' we want to quantify changes in the morphology of tumor blood vessels after treatment with a PI3-ki nase/mTor inhibitor. We will use two different tumor models that are grown in mice from the human ovarian cancer cell lines TOV21G and TOV112D. We expect the TOV21G tumors to respond to treatment, e.g. we expect to find smaller vessel sizes, less tortuous vessels and a lower vascular volume. These changes in morphological features have been described as 'normalization' of the tumor vessels in the literature, which we want to confirm. In contrast, we expect only small changes in the vascular morphology for the TOV112D tumors. The blood vessels will be segmented from high resolution, 3D micro-CT data followed by computation of morphological parameters. The vascular phenotype can vary greatly not only between different tumor models but also between samples o f the same cell line. This is why I expect that I will have to optimize the image processing methods that I have previously developed for breast tumors. We anticipate that this project will advance the current understanding of tumor vascular morphology an d how it changes in response to treatment. This knowledge has the potential to aid validation of imaging methods that can be used in the clinic to monitor cancer therapy. Those clinical methods do not have a high enough resolution to image single blood ve ssels, but once we understand the relationship between this data and the underlying vascular changes during treatment, we will be able to develop more reliable methods for studying treatment efficacy . This is of great importance for personalizing cancer treatment strategies which would improve patient outcomes. To achieve this, we perform magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging of the same tumors and will explain these data with the help of the micro-CT results.