Computer-aided evaluation of the correlation between MRI morphology and immunohistochemical biomarkers or molecular subtypes in breast cancer

Abstract

Studies using tumor circularity (TC), a quantitative MRI morphologic index, to evaluate breast cancer are scarce. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation between TC and immunohistochemical biomarkers or molecular subtypes in breast cancer. 146 patients with 150 breast cancers were selected. All tumors were confirmed by histopathology and examined by 3.0T MRI. TC was calculated by computer-aided software. The associations between TC and patient age, tumor size, histological grade, molecular subtypes, and immunohistochemical biomarkers including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and Ki67 were analyzed. TC correlated inversely with tumor size (r = −0.224, P < 0.001), ER (r = −0.490, P < 0.001) and PR (r = −0.484, P < 0.001). However, TC correlated positively with Ki67 (r = 0.332, P < 0.001) and histological grade (r = 0.309, P < 0.001). In multiple linear regression analysis, tumor size, ER, PR and Ki67 were independent influential factors of TC. Compared with HER2-overexpressed (61.6%), luminal A (54.7%) and luminal B (52.3%) subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) showed the highest score of TC (70.8%, P < 0.001). Our study suggests that TC can be used as an imaging biomarker to predict the aggressiveness of newly diagnosed breast cancers. TNBC seems to present as an orbicular appearance when comparing with other subtypes.

Diffusion Kurtosis at 3.0T as an in vivo Imaging Marker for Breast Cancer Characterization: Correlation With Prognostic Factors

“…34,35 Its high expression is associated with a high risk of metastasis or recurrence, poor clinical or pathological response, and decreased survival. 36 Increased Ki-67 expression tends to indicate enhanced cellularity, vascular hyperplasia and necrosis, and high-grade breast cancer are depicted by the absence of normal glandular architecture, marked nuclear pleomorphism, and active mitosis. Tumors with higher Ki-67 expression generally exhibit positive correlation with higher grade ones, which are characterized by hypercellularity, enlarged nuclear atypia, and hyperchromatism.…”

“…As a biomarker of cell proliferation, the Ki‐67 expression is a good predictive and prognostic marker widely used in clinical practice of breast cancer . Its high expression is associated with a high risk of metastasis or recurrence, poor clinical or pathological response, and decreased survival . Increased Ki‐67 expression tends to indicate enhanced cellularity, vascular hyperplasia and necrosis, and high‐grade breast cancer are depicted by the absence of normal glandular architecture, marked nuclear pleomorphism, and active mitosis.…”

Overview of established and emerging immunohistochemical biomarkers and their role in correlative studies in MRI

“…In a separate study that examined quantitative MRI tumor circularity, inverse correlations between ER and PR IHC expression and roundness which suggests that low ER/PR expression and triple‐negative breast cancers (TNBC) can appear to have benign‐appearing morphologic boundary features in MR images. This study also showed that tumors that are ER/PR‐positive often appeared to have irregular shape features with spiculated boundaries . Ki‐67 is typically used to identify rapidly dividing tumor cells in fast‐growing lesions, so it was quite interesting that Ki‐67 expression also correlated with tumor roundness and enhancement patterns in MRI images …”

“…This study also showed that tumors that are ER/PR-positive often appeared to have irregular shape features with spiculated boundaries. 39,40 Ki-67 is typically used to identify rapidly dividing tumor cells in fastgrowing lesions, so it was quite interesting that Ki-67 expression also correlated with tumor roundness and enhancement patterns in MRI images. 41,42 Montemezzi et al showed significant correlations between the Luminal-A, Luminal-B, HER2-enriched, and triple-negative molecular subtypes of breast cancer and mpMRI features through multivariate analysis.…”

Evaluating the Treatment Efficacy of Nano-Drug in a Lung Cancer Model Using Advanced Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…Whereas the mice treated with the same dose of doxorubicin only manifested an inhibition rate of 23.8%, even lower than the ones treated with 2 mg/kg of cRGD-PLGA@DOX (27.1%), suggesting the low effectiveness of unencapsulated doxorubicin. The higher Ki-67 expression had been reported to be related with a high risk of metastasis and recurrence, poor clinical and pathological response, and worse survival ( 21 ). It has been widely used in clinical practice as an ideal predictive and prognostic marker for cancer treatment.…”