Cancer Research 2011 Sep 7.

Quantifying the role of angiogenesis in malignant progression of gliomas:

In silico modeling integrates imaging and histology.

Swanson KR, Rockne RC, Claridge J, Chaplain MA, Alvord EC Jr, Anderson AR.

Although commonly attributed to molecular-genetic factors such as the accumulation of genetic mutation, this study combines mathematical modeling with experimental and clinical data for human gliomas to suggest that changes in cell kinetics are not necessary to generate the imaging and histological features of malignant progression seen in vivo. Model predictions are validated against imaging and histological data for 3 GBM patients.

funded by the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov).

The UVIC grant proposal integrates mathematical modeling of tumor proliferation and invasion with advanced cancer imaging methods. The goals of our project are twofold:

1) To impact current clinical challenges with treatment of gliomas

2) provide tools for the development of new therapies for these challenging cancers.

Our first goal is to develop image-based response metrics based on the growth kinetics of each patient’s tumor, as seen on both anatomical imaging (MR) and functional imaging (PET and advanced MR). We will use mathematical modeling to develop a patient-specific UVIC that quantifies the dynamics of each patient’s tumor system. We will then test the UVIC model against a  novel set of paired PET and MR images at multiple time-points (five on average) for each of 20 glioblastoma patients.

The overall goal of this project is to extend the UVIC model to the early response assessment of individual patients in clinical trials. This will provide a tool for the development of much-needed therapies that are more effective for gliomas.

The core investigators include

Kristin Swanson – University of Washington

Paul Kinahan - Image Research Lab (IRL) University of Washington

2011 Swanson Lab

From Left to right: Jordan Lange, Sunyoung Ahn, Susan Massey, Anne Baldock, Maxwell Neal, Andrea Hawkins-Daarud, Tyler Rockhill, Kristin R. Swanson, Joshua Jacobs, Theresa Kurtz, Tyler Cloke, Chantal Murthy, David Corwin, Kellie Fontes, Evan Leon, Greg Sterin, Russ Rockne, Maciej M. Mrugala, Michael Fisher, April Baldock, Aaron Nash, Rita Sodt

Not pictured: Kevin Yagle, Addie Boone, Andrew Trister, Shokouh Pardahktim, Jennifer Beers, Kirsten Fagnan, Jessica Cunningham

For a grand total of N = 29 lab members!

This endowed chair is part of the Alvord Brain Tumor Center. The center’s mission is to fuel collaborative basic, translational and clinical research into brain tumors and neurologic complications of cancer. Our shared goal is to advance knowledge of brain tumor biology and to use this new knowledge to improve the care of patients with brain tumors.

S Gu; G Chakraborty; K Champley; A M Alessio; J Claridge; R Rockne; M Muzi; K A Krohn; A M Spence; E C Alvord Jr; A R A Anderson; P E Kinahan; K R Swanson
Mathematical Medicine and Biology 2011

Read the article for free here:

Article DOI: 10.1093/imammb/dqr002

http://webcast.aacr.org/portal/p/2011annual/8110

funded by the James S. McDonnell foundation (www.jsmf.org).

This award establishes a collaborative network to investigate the role of ecology and evolution in characterizing therapy response and recurrence in human brain tumors. The core investigators include

• Kristin Swanson – University of Washington
• Peter Canoll – Columbia University
• Alexander (Sandy) Anderson – Integrated Mathematical Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center

an evolutionary game theoretical view

in Physical Biology, Vol 8, pp015016 (2011), has been downloaded 500 times so far.

This was achieved in 85 days from the date of publication. To put this into context, across all IOP journals 3% of articles were accessed over 500 times this year.

The article is free to read here:
http://stacks.iop.org/1478-3975/8/015016