A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer

Muzi Liang; Jin Zhou; Peng Chen; Wenjing Wu; Yalan Song; Guangyun Hu; Qu Hu; Zhe Sun; Yuanliang Yu; Yuyan Liang; Alex Molassiotis; M. Tish Knobf; Zengjie Ye

doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer

Muzi Liang
, Jin Zhou
, Peng Chen
, Wenjing Wu
, Yalan Song
, Guangyun Hu
, Qu Hu
, Zhe Sun
, Yuanliang Yu
, Yuyan Liang
, Alex Molassiotis^*
, M. Tish Knobf^*
, Zengjie Ye^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

To explore if pretreatment brain function/structure connectome could explain the response to a psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer.

Between February 2018 and October 2021, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled from the Be Resilient to Breast Cancer (BRBC) trial and received a supportive-expressive therapy intervention. Baseline Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) combined with Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) were administered and resilience was scored by 10-item Resilience Scale specific to Cancer (RS-SC-10) at baseline and after the intervention (6 months). Response to the supportive intervention on resilience was defined as > 0.5 standard deviation (SD) improvement at 6 months compared to baseline mean resilience score.

A total of 105 patients received intervention. At 6 months, the resilience score improved in 62.9 % (N = 66), defined as the Response group. Amygdala (53 %) and Hippocampus (15 %) in rs-fMRI and CorpusCallosum_ForcepsMinor (96 %) in DTI were recognized as the main significant brain regions associated with treatment response.

These preliminary data suggest that neuro-markers of brain function/structure connectome from MR imaging might be useful in evaluating response to behavioral interventions on resilience.

Original language	English
Article number	100639
Number of pages	7
Journal	International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology
Volume	25
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639
Publication status	Published - 15 Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions

Keywords

Brain connectome
Breast cancer
Intervention
Resilience
Treatment response

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10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis 2025
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 6.07 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Liang, M., Zhou, J., Chen, P., Wu, W., Song, Y., Hu, G., Hu, Q., Sun, Z., Yu, Y., Liang, Y., Molassiotis, A., Knobf, M. T., & Ye, Z. (2025). A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 25(4), Article 100639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

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title = "A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer",

abstract = "To explore if pretreatment brain function/structure connectome could explain the response to a psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer. Between February 2018 and October 2021, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled from the Be Resilient to Breast Cancer (BRBC) trial and received a supportive-expressive therapy intervention. Baseline Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) combined with Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) were administered and resilience was scored by 10-item Resilience Scale specific to Cancer (RS-SC-10) at baseline and after the intervention (6 months). Response to the supportive intervention on resilience was defined as > 0.5 standard deviation (SD) improvement at 6 months compared to baseline mean resilience score. A total of 105 patients received intervention. At 6 months, the resilience score improved in 62.9 \% (N = 66), defined as the Response group. Amygdala (53 \%) and Hippocampus (15 \%) in rs-fMRI and CorpusCallosum\_ForcepsMinor (96 \%) in DTI were recognized as the main significant brain regions associated with treatment response. These preliminary data suggest that neuro-markers of brain function/structure connectome from MR imaging might be useful in evaluating response to behavioral interventions on resilience.",

keywords = "Brain connectome, Breast cancer, Intervention, Resilience, Treatment response",

author = "Muzi Liang and Jin Zhou and Peng Chen and Wenjing Wu and Yalan Song and Guangyun Hu and Qu Hu and Zhe Sun and Yuanliang Yu and Yuyan Liang and Alex Molassiotis and Knobf, \{M. Tish\} and Zengjie Ye",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).",

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Liang, M, Zhou, J, Chen, P, Wu, W, Song, Y, Hu, G, Hu, Q, Sun, Z, Yu, Y, Liang, Y, Molassiotis, A, Knobf, MT & Ye, Z 2025, 'A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer', International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, vol. 25, no. 4, 100639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

TY - JOUR

T1 - A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer

AU - Liang, Muzi

AU - Zhou, Jin

AU - Chen, Peng

AU - Wu, Wenjing

AU - Song, Yalan

AU - Hu, Guangyun

AU - Hu, Qu

AU - Sun, Zhe

AU - Yu, Yuanliang

AU - Liang, Yuyan

AU - Molassiotis, Alex

AU - Knobf, M. Tish

AU - Ye, Zengjie

PY - 2025/10/15

Y1 - 2025/10/15

N2 - To explore if pretreatment brain function/structure connectome could explain the response to a psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer. Between February 2018 and October 2021, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled from the Be Resilient to Breast Cancer (BRBC) trial and received a supportive-expressive therapy intervention. Baseline Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) combined with Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) were administered and resilience was scored by 10-item Resilience Scale specific to Cancer (RS-SC-10) at baseline and after the intervention (6 months). Response to the supportive intervention on resilience was defined as > 0.5 standard deviation (SD) improvement at 6 months compared to baseline mean resilience score. A total of 105 patients received intervention. At 6 months, the resilience score improved in 62.9 % (N = 66), defined as the Response group. Amygdala (53 %) and Hippocampus (15 %) in rs-fMRI and CorpusCallosum_ForcepsMinor (96 %) in DTI were recognized as the main significant brain regions associated with treatment response. These preliminary data suggest that neuro-markers of brain function/structure connectome from MR imaging might be useful in evaluating response to behavioral interventions on resilience.

AB - To explore if pretreatment brain function/structure connectome could explain the response to a psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer. Between February 2018 and October 2021, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled from the Be Resilient to Breast Cancer (BRBC) trial and received a supportive-expressive therapy intervention. Baseline Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) combined with Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) were administered and resilience was scored by 10-item Resilience Scale specific to Cancer (RS-SC-10) at baseline and after the intervention (6 months). Response to the supportive intervention on resilience was defined as > 0.5 standard deviation (SD) improvement at 6 months compared to baseline mean resilience score. A total of 105 patients received intervention. At 6 months, the resilience score improved in 62.9 % (N = 66), defined as the Response group. Amygdala (53 %) and Hippocampus (15 %) in rs-fMRI and CorpusCallosum_ForcepsMinor (96 %) in DTI were recognized as the main significant brain regions associated with treatment response. These preliminary data suggest that neuro-markers of brain function/structure connectome from MR imaging might be useful in evaluating response to behavioral interventions on resilience.

KW - Brain connectome

KW - Breast cancer

KW - Intervention

KW - Resilience

KW - Treatment response

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019941281

UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260025000961

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

DO - 10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100639

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105019941281

SN - 1697-2600

VL - 25

JO - International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology

JF - International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology

IS - 4

M1 - 100639

ER -

A novel brain functional-structural hybrid analysis to explain the effect of a 6-month psychosocial intervention on resilience in breast cancer

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Keywords

Access to Document

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