Early stratification of radiotherapy response by activatable inflammation magnetic resonance imaging

Tumor heterogeneity is one major reason for unpredictable therapeutic outcomes, while stratifying therapeutic responses at an early time may greatly benefit the better control of cancer. Here, we developed a hybrid nanovesicle to stratify radiotherapy response by activatable inflammation magnetic resonance imaging (aiMRI) approach. The high Pearson's correlation coefficient R values are obtained from the correlations between the T-1 relaxation time changes at 24-48h and the ensuing adaptive immunity (R=0.9831) at day 5 and the tumor inhibition ratios (R=0.9308) at day 18 after different treatments, respectively. These results underscore the role of acute inflammatory oxidative response in bridging the innate and adaptive immunity in tumor radiotherapy. Furthermore, the aiMRI approach provides a non-invasive imaging strategy for early prediction of the therapeutic outcomes in cancer radiotherapy, which may contribute to the future of precision medicine in terms of prognostic stratification and therapeutic planning. Non-invasive approaches to stratify early responses to therapy are of great value to improve cancer patient management. Here the authors design a hybrid nanovesicle-based activatable inflammation magnetic resonance method for the early prediction of response to radiotherapy.