QVT score, a radiomic biomarker of vascular complexity, enables prognostication and monitoring of NSCLC immunotherapy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) improve survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), yet current biomarkers such as programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression and response criteria (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, RECIST, V.1.1) align poorly with long-term survival. Radiomics has been proposed as a source of novel biomarkers, but standard radiomic approaches suffer from limited biological interpretability and poor generalizability across treatment settings. We address these gaps by developing the Quantitative Vessel Tortuosity (QVT) score, a biologically interpretable imaging biomarker that quantifies tumor vascular complexity-a known mediator of immune evasion-from routine imaging. We hypothesized that QVT score would improve prognosticat

SUBMITTER: Chae YK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12927358 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature