Wei Huang

Research Focus:  Wei Huang is using advanced quantitative MRI techniques, including the OHSU AIRC-developed Shutter-Speed dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI method, to (1) improve breast cancer diagnostic accuracy and reduce unnecessary biopsy procedures on women with benign lesions and (2) predict breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.  Furthermore, Wei Huang and his collaborators are exploring ways to integrate MRI markers with clinical, genetic, and histopathological markers to significantly improve the power of accuracy in predicting cancer response to treatment, an important step towards achieving precision medicine for individual cancer patients. 

The Figure demonstrates that, using DCE-MRI markers Ktrans (rate constant for contrast agent transfer between blood vessel and tissue), ve (extravascular and extracellular volume fraction), and τi (mean intracellular water lifetime), we can predict whether a breast cancer patient responds to neoadjuvant chemotherapy or not after only one cycle of a 6-8 cycle chemotherapy course, which usually lasts 4-5 month long.  The substantial decrease in tumor Ktrans and increases in tumor ve and τi from pre-treatment MRI at visit 1 (V1) to MRI after one cycle of chemotherapy at visit 2 (V2) are clearly visible for a responder (Figure A), while there are no noticeable changes in these markers in a non-responder (Figure B).

Biography:  Wei Huang obtained his bachelor's degree in 1988 from Fudan University, Shanghai/China, PhD degree in Physical Chemistry in 1994 from State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He was a postdoctoral fellow in NIH from 1995 to 1998.  Wei Huang has more than twenty-five years experience in in vivo MR research.  Wei Huang's main MR research interest was in the field of neurodisorders when he was an assistant professor in the Radiology Department at Stony Brook from 1998 to 2003.  His focus switched to cancer research when he worked for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 2003-2008.  Currently, Wei Huang's main effort is in oncologic MR research, applying advanced MR techniques for early and accurate cancer detection and monitoring therapeutic response.

Key Publications:

Huang W, Li X, Morris EA, Tudorica LA, Seshan VE, Rooney WD, Tagge I, Wang Y, Xu J, Springer CS.  The magnetic resonance shutter speed discriminates vascular properties of malignant and benign breast tumors in vivo.  Proc Natl Acad Sci 2008; 105: 17943-17948.   

Bartella L, Morris EA, Dershaw DD, Liberman L, Thakur SB, Moskowitz SC, Guido J, Huang W.  Proton MR Spectroscopy using choline signal as malignancy marker improves positive predictive value for the diagnosis of breast cancer - A preliminary study.  Radiology 2006; 239: 686-692.

Huang W, Tudorica LA, Li X, Thakur SB, Chen Y, Morris EA, Tagge IJ, Korenblit M, Rooney WD, Koutcher JA, Springer CS.  Discrimination of benign and malignant breast lesions by using shutter-speed dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging.  Radiology 2011; 261:394-403.

Springer CS, Li X, Tudorica LA, Oh KY, Roy N, Chui SYC, Naik AM, Holtorf ML, Afzal A, Rooney WD, Huang W.  Intratumor mapping of intracellular water lifetime: metabolic images of breast cancer?  NMR Biomed 2014; 27:760-773.

Huang W, Li X, Chen Y, Li X, Chang MC, Oborski MJ, Malyarenko DI, Muzi M, Jajamovich GH, Fedorov A, Tudorica A, Gupta SN, Laymon CM, Marro KI, Dyvorne HA, Miller JV, Barbodiak DP, Chenevert TL, Yankeelov TE, Mountz JM, Kinahan PE, Kikinis R, Taouli B, Fennessy F, Kalpathy-Cramer J.  Variations of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in evaluation of breast cancer therapy response: a multicenter data analysis challenge.  Transl Oncol 2014; 7:153-166.

Tudorica A, Oh KY, Chui SYC, Roy N, Troxell ML, Naik A, Kemmer K, Chen Y, Holtorf ML, Afzal A, Springer CS, Li X, Huang W.  Early Prediction and Evaluation of Breast Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Using Quantitative DCE-MRI.  Transl Oncol 2016; 9:8-17. 

 Huang W, Chen Y, Fedorov A, Li X, Jajamovich GH, Malyarenko DI, Aryal MP, LaViolette PS, Oborski MJ, O’Sullivan F, Abramson RG, Jafari-Khouzani K, Afzal A, Tudorica A, Moloney B, Gupta SN, Besa C, Kalpathy-Cramer J, Mountz JM, Laymon CM, Muzi M, Kinahan PE, Schmainda K, Cao Y, Chenevert TL, Taouli B, Yankeelov TE, Fennessy FMM, Li X.  The impact of arterial input function determination variations on prostate dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging pharmacokinetic modeling: a multicenter data analysis challenge.  Tomography 2016; 2:56-66.

Huang W, Beckett BR, Tudorica A, Meyer JM, Afzal A, Chen Y, Mansoor A, Hayden JB, Doung YC, Hung AY, Holtorf ML, Aston TJ, Ryan CW.  Evaluation of soft tissue sarcoma response to preoperative chemoradiotherapy using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.  Tomography 2016; 2:308-316.

Thibault G, Tudorica A, Afzal A, Chui SYC, Naik A, Troxell ML, Kemmer KA, Oh KY, Roy N, Jafarian N, Holtorf ML, Huang W, Song X.  DCE-MRI Texture Features for Early Prediction of Breast Cancer Response.  Tomography 2017; 3:23-32.