Magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma: association with response and circulating biomarkers after sunitinib therapy

Table 4 Correlation between changes in MRI parameters and plasma biomarkers after sunitinib treatment (Kendall’s τ correlation coefficients)

Kendall’s τ	Ktrans	Kep	EVF	ADC
VEGF	0.00*	0.11	0.03	0.24
P- value	1.00	0.49	0.86	0.13
PlGF	0.00	0.10	−0.06	0.06
P- value	0.74	0.53	0.72	0.72
sVEGFR1	0.22	0.18	−0.16	−0.16
P- value	0.16	0.26	0.30	0.30
sVEGFR2	*0.33*	*0.35*	−0.05	−0.19
P- value	*0.044*	*0.030*	0.77	0.24
sVEGFR3	0.00	−0.09	0.24	−0.23
P- value	1.00	0.62	0.21	0.22
VEGF-C	0.17	0.17	0.02	−0.01
P- value	0.28	0.29	0.90	0.95
bFGF	0.17	0.15	0.01	−0.06
P- value	0.28	0.45	0.86	0.72
TNF-α	0.32	*0.34*	0.01	−0.17
P- value	0.051	*0.030*	0.97	0.30
SDF1α	0.02	0.14	0.12	0.26
P- value	0.90	0.38	0.47	0.10
IL-1β	0.16	0.14	0.16	−0.02
P- value	0.33	0.38	0.31	0.90
IL-6	0.01	−0.04	−0.04	−0.13
P- value	0.95	0.82	0.82	0.44
IL-8	0.10	0.08	0.04	−0.21
P- value	0.56	0.63	0.82	0.19
Sol c-KIT	0.20	0.12	−0.01	0.01
P- value	0.20	0.45	0.95	0.95

*Positive values of Kendall’s τ indicate a direct correlation between changes after treatment (relative to baseline) in imaging biomarkers and plasma biomarkers.

ISSN: 1756-8722