Background: Despite substantial advances in the understanding of breast cancer biology, the decision to use NACT for EBC is based on tumor size, lymph node status, and subtype. Even with aggressive therapy, the majority of women will not achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR). Investigational treatment regimens, including immunotherapy, can increase pCR rates, but are associated with irreversible immune-related toxicities. Being able to accurately predict pCR could identify candidates for intensification or de-escalation of NACT, allowing for personalized medicine. SimBioSys TumorScope (TS) is a biophysical model that utilizes baseline MRI, receptor status, and planned treatment regimen to simulate response to NACT over time. TS has demonstrated accurate prediction of pCR in prior studies. Here, we describe an independent external validation of TS.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of University of Chicago patients (pts) who received NACT for EBC from Jan 2010 – March 2020. Pts must have had a pretreatment breast MRI. Tumors were analyzed using TS by investigators who were blinded to response data. TS predicted pCR was predefined as a residual tumor volume < 0.01 cm3 or a 99.9% or greater reduction in tumor volume. Performance metrics of TS were calculated.
Results: 144 tumors from 141 pts were analyzed. Average age was 52 yrs; 65% had stage II and 19% had stage III disease. Sensitivity and specificity of TS for predicting pCR were 90.4% and 92.4%, respectively. Of the 7 patients who were predicted to achieve a pCR but did not, 5 had a tumor cellularity < 5%. With a median follow-up of 4.7 yrs, the 4-yr distant disease free survival (DDFS) was 100% for patients predicted to achieve pCR, versus 81.5% for those predicted to have residual disease. Results were generally robust for all subgroups analyzed (Table). Conclusions: TS accurately predicts pCR and DDFS from baseline MRI and clinicopathologic data. Given the high sensitivity and specificity of this assay across breast cancer subtypes, TS can be used to aid in escalation/de-escalation strategies for EBC.
