A hot mes.

We know increased PET-avidity is often a harbinger for more aggressive disease. But what can we do about it? This intriguing translational work from Wash U retrospectively analyzed cervical tumors to search for PET harbingers of tumor genomics. A training cohort (n=67) was used to develop three molecular subtypes which predicted overall survival. A validation cohort (n=304) then confirmed the squamous mesenchymal subgroup had worse survival than the squamous epithelial and adenocarcinoma subgroups. Possibly because mesenchymal expression was associated with ex-vivo radiation resistance. What’s more, such epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) gene expression was significantly associated with higher SUV and, in line with this, proved sensitive to glycolysis inhibition. | Zhang, J Clin Invest 2021