Mechanical properties are promising surrogates for monitoring and characterizing various pathophysiologic conditions of cells and tissues. For example, we have pioneered the development of liver MR elastography (MRE), a noninvasive imaging technology for measuring liver stiffness, which is beginning to see widespread clinical use for assessing hepatic fibrosis as an alternative to biopsy. Despite this progress, there is a need to further develop hepatic MRE so that it can have the precision necessary to track disease progression and response to therapy. Several intrinsic pathologic conditions of the liver (e.g., inflammation) compromise the positive predictive value of liver stiffness for characterizing hepatic fibrosis alone. These factors cause similar amounts of stiffness augmentation but have different pathophysiological origins and correspond to different architectural changes. Therefore, the major goal of this proposal is to develop advanced hepatic MRE techniques, including poroviscoelastic (PVE) mechanical models, capable of differentiating inflammation and fibrosis while considering the effects of steatosis in the liver tissue. Our basic assumption is that liver tissue can reasonably be modeled using biphasic PVE theory consisting of an intrinsically isotropic incompressible viscoelastic solid matrix phase and an incompressible saturated fluid phase. The hypothesis is that analysis of time-harmonic hepatic MRE data based on such a PVE model will enable the separation of the steatosis- and fibrosis-related solid matrix mechanical responses from that of the inflammation-related pore fluid behavior.
In Aim 1, we will implement a PVE analysis method to determine PVE parameters and evaluate the key assumptions of the model in phantom studies.
In Aim 2, we will use an acute hepatic inflammation mouse model to evaluate the potential for a PVE model to differentiate and quantify inflammation extent by testing whether noninvasively calculated PVE pore pressure significantly correlates with invasively measured interstitial fluid pressure (IFP), indicating tha it could be used as a surrogate for histology-proven inflammation extent.
In Aim 3, we will further evaluate the potential for PVE hepatic MRE to differentiate and quantify coexisting inflammation and fibrosis in mouse models with chronic liver disease (NAFLD/NASH mouse model). We hypothesize that significant correlations can be found among MRE-assessed PVE parameters (elasticity, viscosity & pore pressure) and hepatic histology (fibrosis, steatosis & inflammation).
In Aim 4, we will perform a translational human study using existing patient data to determine if there is at least one or a combination of several PVE parameters that can distinguish and quantify progressive steatosis, early onset and ongoing inflammation and subsequently developed hepatic fibrosis in the liver. The success of this proposed study will maximize the clinically relevant information provided by hepatic MRE to substantially advance our understanding and ability to diagnose disease progress in the broad pathophysiologic spectrum of chronic liver diseases.

Public Health Relevance

We will develop techniques to differentiate and quantify steatosis, fibrosis and inflammation in liver disease using a biphasic poroviscoelastic model and hepatic MR elastography (MRE) data from in vivo mouse models and biopsy-proven patients with chronic liver diseases. The success of this proposed study will maximize the clinically relevant information provided by hepatic MRE to substantially advance our understanding and ability to diagnose disease progress in the broad pathophysiologic spectrum of chronic liver diseases.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EB017197-04
Application #
9268515
Study Section
Biomedical Imaging Technology Study Section (BMIT)
Program Officer
Liu, Guoying
Project Start
2014-05-01
Project End
2018-08-31
Budget Start
2017-05-01
Budget End
2018-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Department
Type
DUNS #
006471700
City
Rochester
State
MN
Country
United States
Zip Code
55905
Hoodeshenas, Safa; Yin, Meng; Venkatesh, Sudhakar Kundapur (2018) Magnetic Resonance Elastography of Liver: Current Update. Top Magn Reson Imaging 27:319-333
Allen, Alina M; Shah, Vijay H; Therneau, Terry M et al. (2018) The role of 3D-MRE in the diagnosis of NASH in obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Hepatology :
Yin, Meng; Glaser, Kevin J; Manduca, Armando et al. (2017) Distinguishing between Hepatic Inflammation and Fibrosis with MR Elastography. Radiology 284:694-705
Chen, Jun; Yin, Meng; Talwalkar, Jayant A et al. (2017) Diagnostic Performance of MR Elastography and Vibration-controlled Transient Elastography in the Detection of Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients with Severe to Morbid Obesity. Radiology 283:418-428
Wang, Kang; Manning, Paul; Szeverenyi, Nikolaus et al. (2017) Repeatability and reproducibility of 2D and 3D hepatic MR elastography with rigid and flexible drivers at end-expiration and end-inspiration in healthy volunteers. Abdom Radiol (NY) 42:2843-2854
Elgilani, Faysal; Mao, Shennen A; Glorioso, Jaime M et al. (2017) Chronic Phenotype Characterization of a Large-Animal Model of Hereditary Tyrosinemia Type 1. Am J Pathol 187:33-41
Zhang, Nan; Chen, Jun; Yin, Meng et al. (2016) Quantification of regional aortic stiffness using MR elastography: A phantom and ex-vivo porcine aorta study. Magn Reson Imaging 34:91-6
Yin, Meng; Glaser, Kevin J; Talwalkar, Jayant A et al. (2016) Hepatic MR Elastography: Clinical Performance in a Series of 1377 Consecutive Examinations. Radiology 278:114-24
Singh, Siddharth; Venkatesh, Sudhakar K; Loomba, Rohit et al. (2016) Magnetic resonance elastography for staging liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a diagnostic accuracy systematic review and individual participant data pooled analysis. Eur Radiol 26:1431-40
Kakazu, Eiji; Mauer, Amy S; Yin, Meng et al. (2016) Hepatocytes release ceramide-enriched pro-inflammatory extracellular vesicles in an IRE1?-dependent manner. J Lipid Res 57:233-45

Showing the most recent 10 out of 16 publications