Use of AI-based second harmonic generation digital pathology for predicting patient survival for triple negative breast cancer patients.

Authors

null

Dean Tai

HistoIndex Pte Ltd, Singapore, Singapore

Dean Tai , Yayun Ren , Elaine Chng , Kutbuddin Akbary , Wen-Hung Kuo , Kai-Wen Sky Huang

Organizations

HistoIndex Pte Ltd, Singapore, Singapore, HistoIndex, Singapore, Singapore, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, National Taiwan University Medical Library, Taipei, Taiwan

Research Funding

No funding received
None.

Background: Extracellular matrix (ECM) in the stromal region has been known to be associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis in breast cancers. About 10-20% of all breast cancers are triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), considered to be more aggressive with poorer prognosis than other types of breast cancer. AI-based Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) digital pathology, which is a fully quantitative fibrosis assessment, has been widely used innon-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and is FDA approved primary endpoint in NASH phase 2 clinical trials. In oncology, AI-based SHG digital pathology has demonstrated its relevance in survival prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma after surgical treatment, based on analysis of tumor and non-tumor tissue collagen parameters. In this study, we study its potential applications for survival prognosis of TNBC patients. Methods: 68 patients with TNBC were treated by breast-cancer excision surgery. Tumor and non-tumor tissue from excised mass was imaged by SHG microscope (Genesis200, HistoIndex Pte. Ltd., Singapore). Regular follow-up was performed for patients post-operatively. A total of 33 collagen morphology features for collagen strings were quantified, such as length/width of strings, number of long/short/thick/thin strings, from tumour and non-tumour tissues. We used these collagen parameters to build two survival prediction models (RFS-index and OS-index) to predict patient’s recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) years. The models were validated using the leave-one-out method. Results: Both RFS-index and OS-index were created using 10 specific collagen parameters chosen by sequential selection methods from overall 33 collagen parameters evaluated. 9 out of 10 parameters were selected from non-tumour tissue. The RFS-index can differentiate patients with RFS≥3 years (n = 36) and RFS < 3 years (p < 0.001) with cut-off value of RFS-index = 0.50. The OS-index can differentiate patients with OS≥5 years (n = 42) and OS < 5 years (p < 0.001) with cut-off value of RFS-index = 0.55. The log-rank test showed RFS-index (p = 0.026) and OS-index (p < 0.001) can be used for prediction of disease-free and overall survival based on collagen parameters. Conclusions: SHG based AI-aided quantitative assessment of ECM collagen has been shown to correlate with survival rates of TNBC patients. This is a proof of concept study applying AI based digital pathology in helping predict survival rates for TNBC patients based on tumor and non-tumor tissue ECM collagen parameters. This could help identify patients with a higher risk of recurrence of disease and lower overall survival rates. Such patients can be followed-up more carefully, and be considered for earlier treatment interventions to improve their survival outcomes.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Publication Only

Session Title

Publication Only: Breast Cancer—Local/Regional/Adjuvant

Track

Breast Cancer

Sub Track

Adjuvant Therapy

Citation

J Clin Oncol 41, 2023 (suppl 16; abstr e12526)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.e12526

Abstract #

e12526

Abstract Disclosures