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

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.