1. ¹Department of Clinical Oncology, Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, London SE1 7EH, UK
2. ²Gray Cancer Institute, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, UK
3. ³Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, UK
4. ⁴Department of Medical Oncology, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, UK
5. ⁵Department of Statistics, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK
6. ⁶Department of Medical Oncology, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, UK

Correspondence: Dr A Gaya, E-mail: andrew.gaya@gstt.nhs.uk

Revised 28 April 2008; Accepted 28 April 2008; Published online 8 July 2008.

Abstract

Combretastatin-A4-phosphate (CA4P) acts most effectively against immature tumour vasculature. We investigated whether histological angiogenic profile can explain the differential sensitivity of human tumours to CA4P, by correlating the kinetic changes demonstrated by dynamic MRI (DCE-MRI) in response to CA4P, with tumour immunohistochemical angiogenic markers. Tissue was received from 24 patients (mean age 59, range 32–73, 18 women, 6 men). An angiogenic profile was performed using standard immunohistochemical techniques. Dynamic MRI data were obtained for the same patients before and 4 h after CA4P. Three patients showed a statistically significant fall in K^trans following CA4P, and one a statistically significant fall in IAUGC₆₀. No statistically significant correlations were seen between the continuous or categorical variables and the DCE-MRI kinetic parameters other than between ang-2 and K^trans (P=0.044). In conclusion, we found no strong relationships between changes in DCE-MRI kinetic variables following CA4P and the immunohistochemical angiogenic profile.