Preliminary study on DCE-MRI radiomics analysis for differentiation of HER2-low and HER2-zero breast cancer

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the utility of radiomic features from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in distinguishing HER2-low from HER2-zero breast cancer. Patients and methods We retrospectively analyzed 118 MRI cases, including 78 HER2-low and 40 HER2-zero patients confirmed by immunohistochemistry or fluorescence in situ hybridization. From each DCE-MRI case, 960 radiomic features were extracted. These features were screened and reduced using intraclass correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U test, and least absolute shrinkage to establish rad-scores. Logistic regression (LR) assessed the model’s effectiveness in distinguishing HER2-low from HER2-zero. A clinicopathological MRI characteristic model was constructed using univariate and multivariate analysis, and a nomogram was developed combining rad-scores with significant MRI characteristics. Model performance was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and clinical benefit was assessed with decision curve analysis. Results The radiomics model, clinical model, and nomogram successfully distinguished between HER2-low and HER2-zero. The radiomics model showed excellent performance, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.875 in the training set and 0.845 in the test set, outperforming the clinical model (AUC = 0.691 and 0.672, respectively). HER2 status correlated with increased rad-score and Time Intensity Curve (TIC). The nomogram outperformed both models, with AUC, sensitivity, and specificity values of 0.892, 79.6%, and 82.8% in the training set, and 0.886, 83.3%, and 90.9% in the test set. Conclusions The DCE-MRI-based nomogram shows promising potential in differentiating HER2-low from HER2-zero status in breast cancer patients.