Image Response Assessment Team (IRAT) Shared Resource PROJECT SUMMARY Radiology began as a discipline that specialized in the visualization of anatomy. In the context of cancer, modern technologies and innovations transformed imaging into a non-invasive tool that not only assesses solid tumor size and shape but also interrogates the spatial heterogeneity within tumors on the basis of their radiologic appearance, metabolism, and physiology. The overall goal of the Image Response Assessment Team (IRAT) Shared Resource is to enhance the scientific quality of clinical studies, by offering a single point of entry for Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) members to access traditional and advanced quantitative image analysis services. To this end, efforts are organized around three Specific Aims, which are to: 1) maintain and improve the high reliability and fast turnaround times for RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) and other standard tumor assessment metrics; 2) improve therapeutic trials at MCC by translating research advances in radiomics and multi-parameter MRI (mpMRI) analyses into turnkey imaging biomarker services; and 3) provide members with access to non-traditional imaging endpoints for therapeutic trials. IRAT consists of five full-time staff and provides quantitative image-based tumor metrics to support investigator- initiated, cooperative group, and industry-sponsored clinical trials at MCC, and is part of the national consortium of Cancer Center IRATs. IRAT has essential roles in the MCC mission ?to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer,? by providing the support and services necessary to integrate both traditional and innovative imaging endpoints into clinical trials and by providing quality assurance and control throughout the process to yield scientifically valid results. With rapid advances in treatment paradigms such as immunotherapies, IRAT provides improved imaging endpoints to meet the needs of these cutting-edge studies of MCC members. IRAT has witnessed sustained increases in the volume of quantitative image response assessment services provided. A total of 298 new trials requiring imaging response assessment were activated in FY11-15, rising from 39 in FY11 to 65 in FY15. Developing an infrastructure for IRAT has permitted the pursuit of other funded trial opportunities that use advanced and/or investigational imaging techniques, analyses, and novel biomarkers. For example, IRAT is supporting multiple grant applications and funded projects by members investigating radiomic and mpMRI imaging biomarkers in retrospective and prospective clinical and pre-clinical studies. During the past project period, IRAT served 34 members from 4 MCC Programs. Overall usage by members was 94%, with 63% of total usage supporting members with peer- reviewed funding. IRAT-supported studies resulted in a total of 62 peer-reviewed scientific publications during this period.
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