Unraveling the Pivotal Network of Ultrasound and Somatic Mutations in Triple-Negative and Non-Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Yunxia Huang; Yi Guo; Qin Xiao; Shuyu Liang; Qiang Yu; Lang Qian; Jin Zhou; Jian Le; Yuchen Pei; Lei Wang; Cai Chang; Sheng Chen; Shichong Zhou

doi:10.2147/BCTT.S408997

Unraveling the Pivotal Network of Ultrasound and Somatic Mutations in Triple-Negative and Non-Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press). 2023 Jul 11:15:461-472. doi: 10.2147/BCTT.S408997. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yunxia Huang^#¹, Yi Guo^#², Qin Xiao^#³, Shuyu Liang², Qiang Yu⁴, Lang Qian¹, Jin Zhou¹, Jian Le¹, Yuchen Pei⁵, Lei Wang⁴, Cai Chang¹, Sheng Chen⁴, Shichong Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ultrasonography, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Radiology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University and Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention of Shanghai, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Breast Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Precision Cancer Medical Center Affiliated to Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The emergence of genomic targeted therapy has improved the prospects of treatment for breast cancer (BC). However, genetic testing relies on invasive and sophisticated procedures.

Patients and methods: Here, we performed ultrasound (US) and target sequencing to unravel the possible association between US radiomics features and somatic mutations in TNBC (n=83) and non-TNBC (n=83) patients. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) were utilized to perform radiomic feature selection. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis was utilized to identify the signaling pathways associated with radiomic features.

Results: Thirteen differently represented radiomic features were identified in TNBC and non-TNBC, including tumor shape, textual, and intensity features. The US radiomic-gene pairs were differently exhibited between TNBC and non-TNBC. Further investigation with KEGG verified radiomic-pathway (ie, JAK-STAT, MAPK, Ras, Wnt, microRNAs in cancer, PI3K-Akt) associations in TNBC and non-TNBC.

Conclusion: The pivotal network provided the connections of US radiogenomic signature and target sequencing for non-invasive genetic assessment of precise BC treatment.

Keywords: radiomics; signaling pathway; somatic mutation; triple-negative breast cancer.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82071945, 81830058, 91959207) and Joint Fund Project by Shanghai Anticancer Association Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (YJQN202109).