Glioma is the most frequently identified intracranial tumor in adults. Mapping the cerebrovascular network remodeling at the macroscopic level may provide an alternative approach to assess hemodynamic dysregulation in patients with glioma. 

Recently, a research team from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggested that the functional disruption of the cerebrovascular system could be of more importance in the disease characterization of glioma.  

Their study was published in Radiology on Apr. 5. 

In this study, the researchers identified grade-specific cerebrovascular dysregulation in the tumor as well as the uninvolved brain tissue for the patients, based on an approach of time-shifted (functional MRI) fMRI. Compared with the vascular activity of healthy brains, the tumor vasculature features more prominent temporal asynchrony, in contrast to the excessive vascular synchronization in the contralesional hemisphere.  

It is particularly noteworthy that the vascular setup in the tumor seems to have developed an automaticity counteracting the systemic vascular synchronization, especially in gliomas with higher malignant grades.  

"Our findings indicated that the growth of glioma triggers functional remodeling of the vascular system in the entire brain," said Professor ZHANG Lijuan, the corresponding author of this study, "the clinical and biological effects of focal glioma may need to be interpreted in the context of global changes in vascular network. Disturbance in the vascular function may substrate the pathophysiological mechanism of tumor progress and the functional plasticity of brain networks.  The cerebrovascular dysregulation is much relevant to the aggressiveness of the tumor, thereby may serve as a new marker of glioma pathology."

Angiogenesis is a key feature as well as the therapeutic target of malignant tumor. In contrast to the effectiveness in treating multiple types of body cancers, the anti-angiogenic therapy is far less promising in glioblastoma.  

This study provided a framework of methodology to probe the tumor vascularization in vivo, which may leverage innovations in the clinical research of the anti-angiogenic therapy of glioma.  

Media Contact:
ZHANG Xiaomin
Email:xm.zhang@siat.ac.cn