Three-dimensional turbo-spin-echo amide proton transfer-weighted and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging MRI for triple-negative breast cancer - a comparison with molecular subtypes and histological grades

Q: What imaging techniques are compared in this study for triple-negative breast cancer?

The study compares amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) MRI, alongside diffusion-related metrics and tumor size.

Q: How many patients were evaluated, and what patient selection was used?

The prospective study involved 264 patients with suspected breast tumors undergoing both APTw and IVIM MRI; 205 participants were included in the evaluation.

Q: Which IVIM/APT parameters showed significant differences among molecular subtypes?

TNBC cancers showed significantly higher D* than Luminal B, and TN-type cancers showed significantly higher APT values than HER2-type cancers.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Riley

Objective: Investigate associations between breast cancer molecular subtype and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) and amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI. Methods: A prospective study enrolled 264 patients with suspected breast tumors who underwent both breast APTw and IVIM MRI. Tumor maximal diameter, APT value, ADC, diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo diffusion coefficient (D*), and perfusion fraction (f), along with histological subtype, grade, and prognostic factors (Ki-67, ER, PR, HER-2) were compared, including analyses by biological subtype and nuclear grade. Results: 205 participants were evaluated. TNBC showed higher D* than Luminal B. TN-type showed higher APT than HER2-type. AUC combining APTw, IVIM, and Dmax was 0.874, with moderate positive correlation between APT and unclear grade and weak positive correlation between D* and Ki-67. Conclusion: TN breast cancer is associated with APT value and IVIM-derived D*; APTw may predict TNBC molecular subtypes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Breast cancer classification and TNBC background

Need for imaging-based alternative markers

Zhang et al. BMC Cancer (2025) 25:465 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-13879-6](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-13879-6) BMC Cancer RESEARCH Open Access Three-dimensional turbo-spin-echo amide proton transfer-weighted and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging mri for triple-negative breast cancer: a comparison with molecular subtypes and histological grades Nan Zhang1†, Xiali Shao1†, Lianyan Xu1, Wei Zhu2, Haiyu Wang2, Rongkui Luo3, Chun Yang1, Xiaodan Ye1, Mengsu Zeng1, Caizhong Chen1, Xiuzheng Yue4, Zhenghong Bi 1,5*† and Xin Lu 1,5*† Abstract Objective To investigate associations between breast cancer molecular subtype and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) and amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) . Methods This prospective study involved 264 patients with suspected breast tumors who underwent both breast APTw and IVIM MRI. The maximum diameter of the tumor (Dmax), APT value, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo diffusion coefficient (D*), and perfusion fraction (f ) values along with histological subtype, grade, and prognostic factors (Ki-67, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2), were compared. APT values about biological subtypes, Ki-67 labeling index, and nuclear grades (NGs) were further analyzed. Results A total of 205 participants (mean age, 53 years, range 29–80) were included in the evaluation. The triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC) cancers showed significantly higher D* values than the Luminal B cancers (P = 0 . 002), while there was no difference in Dmax, ADC, D, and APT (P = 0 . 068,0 . 318,0 .432,0 . 089) . The TN-type cancers showed significantly higher APT values than the HER2-type cancers (P = 0 . 002) . The area under the curve (AUC) obtained from APTw, IVIM, and Dmax was 0.874. The APT had a moderate positive correlation with the unclear grade (r= 0 .473, P < 0. 001), and the D* had a weak positive correlation with the Ki-67 labeling index(r= 0 . 160, P = 0 . 022) . Conclusion The TN subtype of breast cancer is associated with APT value and D* from IVIM. The APTw may bea promising method for predicting TNBC molecular subtypes. | †Xin Lu and Zhenghong Bi contributed equally to this work, they’ re cocorrespondence authors. | | --- | | †Nan Zhang and Xiali Shao contributed equally to this work, they’ re co-first authors. | *Correspondence: Zhenghong Bi[bi.zhenghong@zsgmc.sh.cn](bi.zhenghong@zsgmc.sh.cn)[ ](bi.zhenghong@zsgmc.sh.cn)Xin Lu[lu.xin@zs-hospital.sh.cn](lu.xin@zs-hospital.sh.cn) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)[.](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.) Zhang et al. BMC Cancer (2025) 25:465 Keywords Amide proton transfer weighted, Intravoxelincoherent motion imaging, Biological status, TNBC Introduction Breast cancer is the m

FAQs

What imaging techniques are compared in this study for triple-negative breast cancer?

The study compares amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) MRI, alongside diffusion-related metrics and tumor size.

How many patients were evaluated, and what patient selection was used?

The prospective study involved 264 patients with suspected breast tumors undergoing both APTw and IVIM MRI; 205 participants were included in the evaluation.

Which IVIM/APT parameters showed significant differences among molecular subtypes?

TNBC cancers showed significantly higher D* than Luminal B, and TN-type cancers showed significantly higher APT values than HER2-type cancers.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Riley