Abstract
Objectives: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been identified as a significant prognostic indicator of response to neoadjuvant therapy and immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. Herein, we aim to assess the association between TIL levels and mammographic features in TNBC patients.Methods: Forty-three patients with surgically proven TNBC who underwent preoperative mammography from January 2018 to December 2018 were recruited. Pyradiomics software was used to extract 204 quantitative radiomics features, including morphologic, grayscale, and textural features, from the segmented lesion areas. The correlation between radiological characteristics and TIL levels was evaluated by screening the most statistically significant radiological features using Mann–Whitney U-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The patients were divided into two groups based on tumor TIL levels: patients with TIL levels <50% and those with TIL levels ≥50%. The correlation between TIL levels and clinicopathological characteristics was assessed using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Mann–Whitney U-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the statistical significance and Pearson correlation coefficient of clinical pathological features, age, and radiological features.Results: Of 43 patients, 32 (74.4%) had low TIL levels and 11 (25.6%) had high TIL levels. The histological grade of the low TIL group was higher than that of the high TIL group (p = 0.043). The high TIL group had a more negative threshold Ki-67 level (<14%) than the low TIL group (p = 0.017). The six most important radiomics features [uniformity, variance, grayscale symbiosis matrix (GLCM) correlation, GLCM autocorrelation, gray level difference matrix (GLDM) low gray level emphasis, and neighborhood gray-tone difference matrix (NGTDM) contrast], representing qualitative mammographic image characteristics, were statistically different (p < 0.05) among the low and high TIL groups. Tumors in the high TIL group had a more non-uniform density and a smoother gradient of the tumor pattern than the low TIL group. The changes in Ki-67, age, epidermal growth factor receptor, radiomic characteristics, and Pearson correlation coefficient were statistically significant (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Mammography features not only distinguish high and low TIL levels in TNBC patients but also can act as imaging biomarkers to enhance diagnosis and the response of patients to neoadjuvant therapies and immunotherapies.
Highlights
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is a type of invasive breast cancer, is characterized by severe disease progression, poor prognosis, high recurrence rate, and short survival
Studies have proved that Tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) levels have a strong prognostic value, which can improve the distant recurrence-free survival, disease-free, and overall survival estimates for TNBC patients treated with adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy [22, 23]
Increased TIL levels have been observed to be positively correlated with prolonged survival and increased pathological complete response rates [24,25,26]
Summary
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is a type of invasive breast cancer, is characterized by severe disease progression, poor prognosis, high recurrence rate, and short survival. TILs have a strong prognostic and predictive significance, and high TIL levels are positively correlated with pathological complete response rate and patient survival rate [4,5,6,7]. Mammography is the first screening method for breast cancer, especially for women over the age of 45. Certain qualitative imaging features obtained via mammography, breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound have been indicated to be correlated with the diagnosis, prognosis, molecular subtyping, and prediction of the response to treatment in breast cancer patients [13,14,15,16,17]. Mammography is widely used for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer because of its cost-effectiveness
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