Dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI features correlate with invasive breast cancer angiogenesis
Xiao J, Rahbar H, Hippe DS, Rendi MH, Parker EU, Shekar N, Hirano M, Cheung KJ, Partridge SC.
NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Apr 16;7(1):42. doi: 10.1038/s41523-021-00247-3.
Abstract
Angiogenesis is a critical component of breast cancer development, and identification of imaging-based angiogenesis assays has prognostic and treatment implications. We evaluated the association of semi-quantitative kinetic and radiomic breast cancer features on dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI with microvessel density (MVD), a marker for angiogenesis. Invasive breast cancer kinetic features (initial peak percent enhancement [PE], signal enhancement ratio [SER], functional tumor volume [FTV], and washout fraction [WF]), radiomics features (108 total features reflecting tumor morphology, signal intensity, and texture), and MVD (by histologic CD31 immunostaining) were measured in 27 patients (1/2016-7/2017). Lesions with high MVD levels demonstrated higher peak SER than lesions with low MVD (mean: 1.94 vs. 1.61, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.79, p = 0.009) and higher WF (mean: 50.6% vs. 22.5%, AUC = 0.87, p = 0.001). Several radiomics texture features were also promising for predicting increased MVD (maximum AUC = 0.84, p = 0.002). Our study suggests DCE-MRI can non-invasively assess breast cancer angiogenesis, which could stratify biology and optimize treatments.