Molecular and functional imaging of breast cancer

Abstract

Despite several major advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, the American Cancer Society has estimated that in the US alone 43300 women and 400 men will die from breast cancer in 2007. Breast cancer typically is a multi-focal, multi-faceted disease, with the major cause of mortality being complications due to metastasis. Whereas a decade ago genetic alterations were the primary focus in cancer research, it is now apparent that the physiological tumor microenvironment, interactions between cancer cells and stromal cells such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts and macrophages, the extracellular matrix, and a multitude of secreted factors and cytokines influence progression, aggressiveness, and response of the disease to treatment. Prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment are the three broad challenges for MR molecular and functional imaging in reducing mortality from this disease. Multi-parametric molecular and functional MRI provides unprecedented opportunities for identifying novel targets for imaging and therapy at the bench, as well as for accurate diagnosis and monitoring response to therapy at the bedside. Here we provide an overview of the current status of molecular and functional MRI of breast cancer, outlining some key developments, as well as identifying some of the important challenges facing this field in the future.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Study of the Effect of Cisplatin on the Metabolic Profile of MG-63 Osteosarcoma Cells

“…However, an enhanced choline content is already observed before, at 12 h, which suggests the contribution of other effects not involving the formation of GPC, such as the activation of other PTC degradative pathways. 33 At 48 h, choline content decreases back to controls level, very much in parallel to PC variation at the latest stage of drug exposure (Figure 4e), suggesting a possible metabolic relationship between these compounds for longer exposures. PC levels are known to be increased in tumoral cells (compared to nontumoral ones) due to several concomitant effects: increased phospholipid biosynthesis to meet cell proliferation requirements, activation of PTC-cycle enzymes and increased choline transport into the cell.…”

“…Since GPC is solely a breakdown product of membrane phosphatidylcholine, PTC, 33 its clear increase compared to controls (Figure 4f) suggests increasing membrane degradation from 18 h of CDDP exposure. In turn, GPC degrades into free choline, which should contribute to the enhanced choline peak at 18 and 24 h ( Figure 4d).…”

A Biomimetic Collagen Derived Peptide Exhibits Anti-Angiogenic Activity in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

“…Most markers used to investigate the effectiveness of anti-angiogenic therapies characterize terminal points of the treatment, such as microvascular density by immunohistochemistry (IHC) with anti-CD34 antibodies in tumor sections, thus no real time information of the efficacy response is available [19]. In the clinic, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and to monitor treatment efficacy [20]. Recent studies have examined the use of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI to monitor the effects of anti-angiogenic therapy [21], [22].…”

Anti-3-18F-FACBC (18F-Fluciclovine) PET/CT of Breast Cancer: An Exploratory Study

“…Histologic and molecular characteristics of breast cancer have significant effects on therapeutic decisions as well as disease-free and overall survival (2). Mammography, ultrasound, and MRI form the backbone of breast imaging (3)(4)(5)(6). 18 F-FDG PET has also assumed an important role in wholebody staging, recurrent disease detection, and therapy response monitoring (7).…”