Qualitative and Quantitative Image-Based Biomarkers of Therapeutic Response in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Experimental targeted treatments for neoadjuvant chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer are currently underway, and a current challenge is predicting which patients will respond to these therapies. In this study, we use data from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) images to predict whether patients with triple negative breast cancer will respond to an experimental neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen. Using pre-therapy image-based features that are both qualitative (e.g., morphological BI-RADS categories) and quantitative (e.g., lesion texture), we built a model that was able to predict whether patients will have residual invasive cancer with lymph nodes metastases following therapy (receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.83, sensitivity=0.73, specificity=0.83). This model’s performance is at a level that is potentially clinically valuable for predicting which patients may or may not benefit from similar treatments in the future.