Repeatability and response to therapy of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis in a large multicentre trial setting.
Waterton JC., Ho M., Nordenmark LH., Jenkins M., DiCarlo J., Guillard G., Roberts C., Buonaccorsi G., Parker GJM., Bowes MA., Peterfy C., Kellner H., Taylor PC.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the repeatability and response to therapy of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI biomarkers of synovitis in the hand and wrist of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and in particular the performance of the transfer constant K trans , in a multicentre trial setting. METHODS: DCE-MRI and RA MRI scoring (RAMRIS) were performed with meticulous standardisation at baseline and 6 and 24 weeks in a substudy of fostamatinib monotherapy in reducing synovitis compared with placebo or adalimumab. Analysis employed statistical shape modelling to avoid biased regions-of-interest, kinetic modelling and heuristic analyses. Repeatability was also evaluated. RESULTS: At early study termination, DCE-MRI data had been acquired from 58 patients in 19 imaging centres. K trans intra-subject coefficient of variation (N = 14) was 30%. K trans change demonstrated inferiority of fostamatinib (N = 11) relative to adalimumab (N = 10) after 6 weeks (treatment ratio = 1.92, p = 0.003), and failed to distinguish fostamatinib from placebo (N = 10, p = 0.79). RAMRIS showed superiority of fostamatinib relative to placebo at 6 weeks (p = 0.023), and did not distinguish fostamatinib from adalimumab at either 6 (p = 0.175) or 24 (p = 0.230) weeks. CONCLUSION: This demonstrated repeatability of K trans and its ability to distinguish treatment groups show that DCE-MRI biomarkers are suitable for use in multicentre RA trials. KEY POINTS: • DCE-MRI biomarkers are feasible in large multicentre studies of joint inflammation. • DCE-MRI K trans showed fostamatinib inferior to adalimumab after 6 weeks. • K trans repeatability coefficient of variation was 30% multicentre.