Decoding gene expression in cancer tumors using noninvasive imaging

By correlating images of cancerous liver tissue with gene expression patterns, a research team led by a radiologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has developed tools that may some day allow physicians to view a CT image of a cancer tumor and discern its genetic activity. The study, designed to help doctors obtain the molecular details of a specific tumor or disease without having to do an invasive biopsy procedure, will be published online on May 21 in Nature Biotechnology.