Abstract P3-03-06: Prediction of response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy in triple negative breast cancer using baseline tumor MRI characteristics and imaging patterns of response
Authors: Guirguis Mary S , Adrada Beatriz E , Candelaria Rosalind P , Sun Jia , Whitman Gary J , Yang Wei T , Boge Medine , Mohamed Rania M , Elshafeey Nabil A , Lane Deanna L , Le-Petross Huong , Leung Jessica WT , Santiago Lumarie , Scoggins Marion E , Spak David A , Patel Miral , Perez Frances , Wei Peng , Tripathy Debu , White Jason , Ravenberg Elizabeth , Huo Lei , Litton Jennifer , Arun Banu , Valero Vincente , Thompson Alastair , Moulder Stacy , Yam Clinton , Rauch Gaiane M 
Published: March 2022

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a poor prognosis. In particular, TNBC patients who have significant residual disease at the time of surgery following completion of neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) have an especially poor prognosis. In an effort to identify patients who are unlikely to achieve pathologic complete response (pCR), we investigated if pre-treatment breast MRI morphological characteristics and imaging response patterns during NST can predict pCR in TNBC patients. Materials and Methods: As part of a prospective IRB-approved clinical trial (ARTEMIS, NCT02276443), 199 patients with biopsy-proven stage I-III TNBC received NST and were classified as pCR or non-pCR based on histopathology at surgery. Patients underwent breast MRI at baseline (BL), after 2 cycles (C2), and 4 cycles (C4) of Adriamycin-based chemotherapy (AC). Subsequently, patients received either taxane-based NST or targeted therapy guided by mid-treatment imaging response. MRI studies were reviewed by two fellowship-trained breast radiologists who were blinded to the pathology results. ACR MRI BIRADS lexicon (5th Ed) was used to describe BL tumor morphology. Imaging response pattern at C2 and C4 MRI was classified as follows: type 0 (complete), type 1 (concentric shrinkage), type 2 (crumble), type 3 (diffuse enhancement), type 4 (stable), or type 5 (progression). Morphological baseline features and response patterns were summarized and compared to the pCR status on surgical pathology using Fisher’s exact test. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Median age was 53 years, range 24-79. Of 199 patients, 95 (48%) had pCR and 104 (52%) had non-pCR. At BL MRI, an irregularly-shaped mass and homogenous or clumped non-mass enhancement were associated with pCR (p=0.026 and p=0.013, respectively). Multifocality, peritumoral edema, and intratumoral necrosis were independent of pCR. Following NST, the most common MRI response pattern was type 1, seen with equal frequency in pCR and non-pCR at C2 (58% and 42%, respectively) and C4 (47% and 53%, respectively). The following response pattern associations were found: type 0 was associated with pCR at both C2 and C4 timepoints (p&lt;0.001), while types 4 and 5 were associated with non-pCR at C2, (p&lt;0.001). The four patterns: types 2, 3, 4, 5, were associated with non-pCR at C4 (p&lt;0.001). Conclusion: Baseline MRI tumor morphological characteristics and MRI imaging response patterns during NST may be valuable markers for pCR prediction in TNBC. Qualitative breast MRI assessment may act as an accessible tool to identify TNBC patients who are unlikely to achieve pCR and may benefit from targeted therapies.

Citation Format: Mary S Guirguis, Beatriz E Adrada, Rosalind P Candelaria, Jia Sun, Gary J Whitman, Wei T Yang, Medine Boge, Rania M Mohamed, Nabil A Elshafeey, Deanna L Lane, Huong Le-Petross, Jessica WT Leung, Lumarie Santiago, Marion E Scoggins, David A Spak, Miral Patel, Frances Perez, Peng Wei, Debu Tripathy, Jason White, Elizabeth Ravenberg, Lei Huo, Jennifer Litton, Banu Arun, Vincente Valero, Alastair Thompson, Stacy Moulder, Clinton Yam, Gaiane M Rauch. Prediction of response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy in triple negative breast cancer using baseline tumor MRI characteristics and imaging patterns of response [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-03-06.