Altered network efficiency of functional brain networks in patients with breast cancer after chemotherapy.

Han Xuan,Zhendong Chen,Qianqian Jia,Huaidong Cheng,Wen Li,Zhonglian Huang,Longsheng Wang,Chen Gan

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.22358

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the topological organization of functional brain networks in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer (BC) patients with source memory impairment.MethodsTwenty-eight patients with BCfollowingchemotherapyand40age-and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in the current study. All participants underwent source memory tests and resting-state functional MRI scans. Individual whole-brain functional brain networks were constructed and analyzed using graph-based network approaches.ResultsCompared with the HCs, the BC patients showed lower scores in the source memory tests (P < 0.001).Graph-based analyses revealed that the patients showed higher absolute global and local efficiency (both P < 0.01) but lower normalized global and normalized local efficiency (both P< 0.001) compared with the HCs. Locally, several prefrontal, occipital, and parietal regions exhibited higher nodal efficiency and functional connectivity in the patients(P< 0.05, corrected). Finally, positive correlations were observed between normalized global efficiency and Mini-Mental State Examination scores (r = 0.398, P = 0.036) and between normalized local efficiency and the source memory scores (r = 0.497, P = 0.01) in the patients.ConclusionChemotherapy-treated BC is associated with abnormal organization of large-scale functional brain networks, which could account for source memory dysfunction in patients with BC.

Highlights

Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairments (CICI) involve multiple cognitive domains including attention, memory, executive function, and information processing speed in patients with cancer during or after chemotherapy
Chemotherapy-treated Breast cancer (BC) is associated with abnormal organization of large-scale functional brain networks, which could account for source memory dysfunction in patients with BC
We systematically investigated the topological organization of functional brain networks in28patients with BC after chemotherapy and 40 age- and education-matched healthy controls (HCs).individual functional brain networks were constructed by calculating interregional functional connectivity of spontaneous brain time series signals among 90 regions of interest (ROIs).Graph-based network efficiency was calculated to topologically characterize the resultant networks at both global and nodal levels

Summary

Introduction

Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairments (CICI) involve multiple cognitive domains including attention, memory, executive function, and information processing speed in patients with cancer during or after chemotherapy. Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent types of cancer, with a higher incidence, but it has better treatment outcomes than others. Patients with BC can survive for a long time, and chemotherapy has become an important issue with long-term effects on the life quality of patients with BC. JCO published a new study on chemobrain, which indicated that chemobrain is one of the most important areas of research [2].the neural mechanism underlying BC chemobrain is not currently well established, from a system-level network integrity perspective. Previous neurophysiological studies have documented that patients with BC after chemotherapy www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget

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