Fig. 3
Changes in Tie2 but not CK18 reflect tumor vascular control (Ktrans). Two cohorts (or clusters) of patients were identified through an unsupervised hierarchical clustering of Tie2 trajectories (a). In one cohort, there was an immediate but transient reduction (dotted line) in Tie2, while in the other cohort there was a later but more sustained reduction (solid line). The two cohorts behaved significantly differently (P = 1.8 × 10−6, Mann–Whitney U test). Similar cohorts of patients were identified with Ktrans values (b), which again behaved significantly differently (P = 0.003, Mann–Whitney U test). The pattern of behavior of CK18 was different (c), and the two cohorts were not significantly different (P = 0.18, Mann–Whitney U test). This indicates that Tie2 reflects the impact of bevacizumab on tumor vasculature. Error bars indicate the standard error. d Shows an example of Ktrans parameter maps, which reflect the tumor behavior of the two cohorts, shown in b. The largest difference in parameter maps can be seen in the two middle position maps, which correspond to the maximum difference between the two cluster-derived curves. CK18; cytokeratin 18, Ktrans; endothelial transfer constant
