Efficacy Evaluation of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer by MRI

The diagnostic performance of dual-layer spectral detector CT for distinguishing breast cancer biomarker expression and molecular subtypes

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of dual-layer spectral detector CT for differentiation of breast cancer molecular subtypes. This study was done in a retrospective approach including 104 female patients histopathologically proven to have breast cancer. These patients underwent chest arterial and venous phase dual-layer SDCT. CT values, iodine concentrations (IC)s, and Z-effective (Zeff) values of the lesions and arteries in the same layer were determined for both arterial and venous phases. Parameter values were normalized, and slopes of the spectral curves (λHu) were calculated. Breast cancer biomarkers were also analyzed. Afterward, correlations between the obtained parameters and biomarkers were analyzed. Eventually, the diagnostic performance was assessed using ROC curves. ER or PR-negative patients generally showed significantly higher mean iodine concentrations, CT, and Z-effective values. HER2-positive patients showed significantly higher CTVE, ZeffVE, N-ZeffVE, ICART, ICVE, NICART, NICVE, and λVE. Only ICVE and ZeffVE differed significantly between Ki67-positive and negative patients. All parameters showed significant diagnostic value for subtypes except N-ZeffART. Luminal and non-luminal types differed significantly and ROC curves indicated that multi-factors had the best diagnostic efficacy. The dual-layer SDCT distinguishes breast cancer biomarker expression and molecular subtypes. Thus, it can be used for preoperative assessment of breast cancer.

Study on the Relationship Between PTPRO Methylation in Plasma and Efficacy Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Early Breast Cancer

Objective

This study aimed to explore the correlation between PTPRO methylation in plasma and the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for early breast cancer (BC).

Methods

Eighty-two patients with early BC undergoing NAC were included. PTPRO methylation status in plasma before and after NAC was detected using methylation-specific PCR and the relationship between PTPRO methylation and NAC efficacy was analyzed.

Results

The rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) was only 25.0% (12/48) in patients with positive PTPRO methylation result before NAC, but 61 0.8% (21/34) in pre-NAC methylation-negative patients (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.09-0.65, P = 0.005). In addition, the pCR rate was 12.1% (4/33) in patients with positive PTPRO methylation results both before and after NAC, but 53.3% (8/15) in patients with pre-NAC positive methylation and post-NAC negative methylation results (OR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03-0.52, P = 0.004).

Conclusion

Plasma PTPRO methylation is a potential biomarker for predicting the efficacy of NAC in early BC.