Abstract
Background: Response guided treatment in breast cancer is highly desirable, but the effectiveness is only established based on residual cellularity from histopathological analysis after surgery. Tubule formation, a key component of grading score, is directly associated with cellularity, with significant implications on prognosis. Peri-tumoural lipid composition, a potential marker, can be rapidly mapped across the entire breast using novel method of chemical shift-encoded imaging, enabling the quantification of spatial distribution. We hypothesise that peri-tumoural spatial distribution of lipid composition is sensitive to tumour cellular differentiation and proliferative activity.
Methods: Twenty whole tumour specimens freshly excised from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (9 Score 2 and 11 Score 3 in tubule formation) were scanned on a 3 T clinical scanner (Achieva TX, Philips Healthcare).
Quantitative lipid composition maps were acquired for polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fatty acids (PUFA, MUFA, SFA). The peritumoural spatial distribution (mean, skewness, entropy and kurtosis) of each lipid constituent were then computed. The proliferative activity marker Ki-67 and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were assessed histologically.
Results: For MUFA, there were significant differences between groups in mean (p = 0.0119), skewness (p = 0.0116), entropy (p = 0.0223), kurtosis (p = 0.0381), and correlations against Ki-67 in mean (ρ = -0.5414), skewness (ρ =
0.6045) and entropy (ρ = 0.6677), and TILs in mean (ρ = -0.4621). For SFA, there were significant differences between groups in mean (p = 0.0329) and skewness (p = 0.0111), and correlation against Ki-67 in mean (ρ = 0.5910).
For PUFA, there was no significant difference in mean, skewness, entropy or kurtosis between the groups.
Conclusions: There was an association between peri-tumoural spatial distribution of lipid composition with tumour cellular differentiation and proliferation. Peri-tumoural lipid composition imaging might have potential in non-invasive quantitative assessment of patients with breast cancer for treatment planning and monitoring.
Methods: Twenty whole tumour specimens freshly excised from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (9 Score 2 and 11 Score 3 in tubule formation) were scanned on a 3 T clinical scanner (Achieva TX, Philips Healthcare).
Quantitative lipid composition maps were acquired for polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fatty acids (PUFA, MUFA, SFA). The peritumoural spatial distribution (mean, skewness, entropy and kurtosis) of each lipid constituent were then computed. The proliferative activity marker Ki-67 and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were assessed histologically.
Results: For MUFA, there were significant differences between groups in mean (p = 0.0119), skewness (p = 0.0116), entropy (p = 0.0223), kurtosis (p = 0.0381), and correlations against Ki-67 in mean (ρ = -0.5414), skewness (ρ =
0.6045) and entropy (ρ = 0.6677), and TILs in mean (ρ = -0.4621). For SFA, there were significant differences between groups in mean (p = 0.0329) and skewness (p = 0.0111), and correlation against Ki-67 in mean (ρ = 0.5910).
For PUFA, there was no significant difference in mean, skewness, entropy or kurtosis between the groups.
Conclusions: There was an association between peri-tumoural spatial distribution of lipid composition with tumour cellular differentiation and proliferation. Peri-tumoural lipid composition imaging might have potential in non-invasive quantitative assessment of patients with breast cancer for treatment planning and monitoring.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 285 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | BMC Cancer |
| Volume | 22 |
| Early online date | 17 Mar 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
[Acknowledgements:]The authors would like to thank Dr. Matthew Clemence (Philips Healthcare Clinical Science, UK) for clinical scientist support, Ms Bolanle Brikinns for
patient recruitment support and Ms Dawn Younie for logistic support.
[Funding:]
This project was funded by NHS Grampian Endowment Research Fund
(15/1/052). Sai Man Cheung’s PhD study was jointly supported by
Elphinstone scholarship, Roland Sutton Academic Trust and John Mallard
scholarship and is currently funded by Cancer Research UK
(C68628/A28312). Nicholas Senn’s PhD study was supported by BBSRC EASTBIO scholarship (1654748). The funding sources were not involved in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the
writing of the report nor in the decision to submit the article for publication
Keywords
- heterogeneity
- skewness
- entropy
- kurtosis
- monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA)
- Heterogeneity
- Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA)
- Skewness
- Entropy
- Kurtosis
- APOPTOSIS
- CELLS
- PROGNOSTIC-FACTORS
- TISSUE
- PALMITATE
- CHEMOTHERAPY
- HISTOLOGICAL GRADE
Access to Document
- Chan_etal_BMCC_Peri-tumoural_Spatial_Distribution_VoR
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