Comparison of breast cancer subtypes in treatment response using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI

Motivation: Breast cancer molecular subtype may affect therapeutic efficacy of metronomic chemotherapy, which currently has not been investigated with non-invasive methods. Goal(s): This study is to utilize DCE-MRI for quantitative measurement of treatment response in different breast cancer subtypes. Approach: Preclinical orthotopic models 67NR(ER+) and 4T1(triple negative) of breast cancer were treated with the same metronomic chemotherapy, while the heterogenous treatment response was evaluated using DCE-MRI. Results: In both tumor models, treatment induced higher Vp, Fp, and Ktrans. The 67NR tumors had higher vascular measures with slower growth rates than the 4T1 tumors. Impact: The preliminary data in this study suggest that the tumor volume alone does not provide adequate information about the changes induced by treatment, and the treatment response differs substantially between breast cancer subtypes as observed by DCE-MRI parameters.