The morphological attributes could serve as pivotal indicators precipitating early recurrence and dismal overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and quantifying morphological features may better stratify the prognosis of HCC. To develop a radiomics approach based on 3D tumor morphology features for predicting the prognosis of HCC and identifying differentially expressed genes related to morphology to guide HCC treatment. Retrospective study of 357 HCC patients. Radiomic features were extracted from MRI tumor regions; 14 morphology-related features predicted early HCC recurrence and patient stratification via LASSO-Cox modeling. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed. RNA sequencing from the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) examined drug sensitivity and stratified HCC using morphological immunity genes, validating recurrence and prognosis. Patients were split into training (n = 225), test (n = 132), and 50 TCIA dataset cohorts. Two features (Maximum2DdiameterColumn, Sphericity) in Cox regression stratified patients into high/low-risk Morphological Radiological Score (Morph-RS) groups. Significant OS and RFS were seen across all sets. Differentially expressed genes focused on T cell receptor signaling; low-risk group had higher T cells ( = 0.039), B cells ( = 0.041), NK cells ( = 0.018). SN-38, GSK2126458 might treat high-risk morphology. Morphology-immune genes stratified HCC, showing significant RFS/OS differences. Tumor Morph-RS effectively stratifies HCC patients' recurrence and prognosis. Limited immune infiltration seen in Morph-RS high-risk groups signifies the potential of employing tumor morphology as a potent visual biomarker for diagnosing and managing HCC.

中文翻译：

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肝细胞癌的三维形态学评分对预后和免疫浸润进行分层


形态学特征可以作为促进肝细胞癌（HCC）早期复发和总体生存率低下的关键指标，并且量化形态学特征可以更好地对HCC的预后进行分层。开发基于 3D 肿瘤形态特征的放射组学方法，用于预测 HCC 的预后并识别与形态相关的差异表达基因以指导 HCC 治疗。 357 名 HCC 患者的回顾性研究。从 MRI 肿瘤区域提取放射组学特征； 14 个形态相关特征通过 LASSO-Cox 模型预测早期 HCC 复发和患者分层。分析总生存期（OS）和无复发生存期（RFS）。癌症影像档案 (TCIA) 的 RNA 测序检查了药物敏感性，并使用形态免疫基因对 HCC 进行了分层，验证了复发和预后。患者被分为训练组 (n = 225)、测试组 (n = 132) 和 50 个 TCIA 数据集队列。 Cox 回归中的两个特征（Maximum2DdiameterColumn、球形度）将患者分为高/低风险形态放射评分 (Morph-RS) 组。在所有组中均观察到显着的 OS 和 RFS。差异表达基因集中于T细胞受体信号传导；低风险组的T细胞（= 0.039）、B细胞（= 0.041）、NK细胞（= 0.018）较高。 SN-38、GSK2126458 可能治疗高危形态。形态学免疫基因对 HCC 进行分层，显示出显着的 RFS/OS 差异。 Tumor Morph-RS 有效地对 HCC 患者的复发和预后进行分层。 Morph-RS 高危人群中观察到的有限免疫浸润表明肿瘤形态学作为诊断和治疗 HCC 的有效视觉生物标志物的潜力。