OCTOPUS: Oncological Concurrent Tomographic Optoacoustics, Pet and UltraSonography.

Project Information

OCTOPUS

Grant agreement ID: 101030046

DOI

10.3030/101030046

Project terminated on 31 December 2022

EC signature date 18 March 2021

Start date 1 June 2022

End date 31 May 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 160 932,48

EU contribution

€ 160 932,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OCTOPUS (OCTOPUS: Oncological Concurrent Tomographic Optoacoustics, Pet and UltraSonography.)

Reporting period: 2022-06-01 to 2024-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The OCTOPUS (Oncological Concurrent Tomographic Optoacoustics, Pet and UltraSonography) project aimed to create a new multimodal imaging tool to correlate molecular, vascular and tissue oxygenation information, three of the main hallmarks of cancer, in a longitudinal, simultaneous, quantitative, fully co-registered and in vivo manner. Because cancer is a complex disease involving multiple hallmarks, many of the recently developed therapies, described as precision medicine, target these hallmarks. Imaging techniques are crucial tools for analysing the stage, characteristics, and relationship between several of these hallmarks. However, until recently these analyses were performed from separate imaging modalities, taken at different physiological states, making multiparametric correlation difficult. The OCTOPUS project will build the first in vivo and multimodal preclinical tool that investigates simultaneously the interactions between tissue oxygenation by Multispectral Optoacoustic Imaging, vascularization by Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging, and Metabolism, employing super-resolved PET imaging. OCTOPUS will also provide a machine learning-based platform for advanced multi-parametric analysis of all image-derived tissue features that can be extracted with this equipment, in order to facilitate the interpretation of underlying tumoral mechanisms and ultimately guide the design or tailoring of targeted therapies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project benefited from MSCA funding for 7 months. During this period we have: (i) developed simulation and reconstruction methods for the PET component of OCTOPUS to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of metabolic activity maps, (ii) developed an optoacoustic/ultrasonic add-on to obtain tissue oxygenation and vascularisation maps using a single acoustic probe to miniaturise the system, (iii) we have developed machine learning analysis tools to characterise the tumour phenotype of the different evolutionary stages of response to an anti-angiogenic treatment with parameters extractable from OCTOPUS, which ultimately allow characterisation of the different tumour response pathways to treatment, essential for early monitoring or reorientation of treatment.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

So far, OCTOPUS has provided results that highlight the advantages of using simultaneous in vivo multimodal information, both to expand the number of tumour observables and their interconnection, which is key to have a more holistic view of their dynamics and mechanisms of evolution, and to reinforce the physical parameters of image quality of the different modalities involved in this machine using cross-modal anatomical references. This has allowed us to extract, with exceptional image quality, new tumour biomarkers critical for defining the tumour phenotype of the different stages of evolution in the face of anti-angiogenic treatments, having for the first time access to imaging the target attacked by a precision medicine treatment and its impact on other hallmarks linked to this target. At the end of the project, we hope to harmonise the wide range of tissue descriptors available with OCTOPUS and draw relevant conclusions about the mechanisms of tumour response as well as the elucidation of possible pharmacological strategies to improve the response to treatment.

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