Magnetic resonance imaging‐based radiogenomics analysis for predicting prognosis and gene expression profile in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract Background To establish a radiomics nomogram for survival prediction and determine if genomic data were related to radiomics signature in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods Radiomics features were extracted from contrast‐enhanced T1‐weighted images (CE‐T1WI) in 316 patients. A progression‐free survival (PFS) nomogram was developed and validated by the combination of the radiomics signature and clinicopathologic factors. Whole transcriptomics sequencing was performed in pretreatment tumor samples; correlation of gene expression and radiomics signature was further investigated. Results A 24‐feature‐combined radiomics signature was highly correlated with PFS; its integration with clinical predictors showed good prediction performance in the training and the validation cohort (C‐index: 0.80 and 0.73). A significant correlation was observed between certain gene expression and Rad‐score, especially the mRNA expression of CDKL2 , PLIN5 , and SPAG1 . Conclusion As a noninvasive method, the MRI‐based radiomics signature might enable the pretreatment prediction of prognosis and gene expressions profile in advanced NPC.