Relationship between ultrasound elastography and myofibroblast distribution in breast cancer and its clinical significance.

Yi Hao,Lisha Liu,Xia Guo,Binlin Ma,Lin Zhu

doi:10.1038/srep19584

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between ultrasound elastography (USE) scoring and myofibroblast distribution with expression features of α-SMA + /CD34− in patients of Uyghur and Han ethnicities with breast masses in Xinjiang, China. The data was used to evaluate its clinical significance in the early diagnosis of breast cancer. A total of 300 patients with breast masses were included in the study, which involved conventional sonography and USE, with histopathologic diagnosis as the reference standard. Myofibroblast distribution was investigated by detecting the expression levels of α-SMA and CD34 in lesions using immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. Out of 300 lesions, 185 were histologically malignant and 115 benign. The mean elasticity score for malignant lesions was significantly higher than for benign lesions. The expression level of α-SMA was elevated while the expression level of CD34 was lower in malignancies, compared with benign lesions. The expression of α-SMA was positively associated with the USE scores, while a negative relationship was observed between CD34 expression and USE scoring. The combination of USE and molecular diagnosis provides a promising modality for the early diagnosis and evaluation of the risks in particular types of breast cancer.

Highlights

Including breast, colorectal, prostate and lung cancer[11,12]
We included a total of 300 patients with breast masses, from which 198 were of Han and 102 of Uygur ethnicity; 185 cases were diagnosis with breast cancer (63 Uyghur and 122 Han patients), while the other 115 cases were diagnosed as benign lesions (39 Uyghur and 76 Han patients), based on the pathological diagnosis
Ultrasound elastography (USE) was superior to conventional sonography in diagnosing benign and malignant lesions in all respects in both the Uyghur and Han populations. These results indicate that USE can achieve high accuracy in diagnosing benign and malignant breast lesions, which was significantly superior to the conventional sonography Breast Imaging Recording and Data System (BI-RADS) classification in the diagnosis of breast lesions

Summary

Introduction

Including breast, colorectal, prostate and lung cancer[11,12]. MFS contributes to the identification and diagnosis of benign and malignant disease. Patients in the Uygur population are often diagnosed with a larger tumor size, more metastatic axillary nodes, a longer time necessary for tumor excision and poor prognosis[20,21], in comparison with the Han population. These findings indicate that the breast cancers in the Uyghur population may have specific characteristics, which should be considered in the treatment regimen. The aims of present study were to investigate the correlation between USE score and the expression of MFS in breast tumors, and to evaluate the clinical significance of USE and MFS in the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancers, as well as comparing Uyghur and Han patients in Xinjiang

Methods

Results

Conclusion