Microcalcification Crystallography as a Potential Marker of DCIS Recurrence

Authors

Sarah B Gosling
Emily L Arnold
Samantha K Davies
Hannah Cross
Ihssane Bouybayoune
Doriana Calabrese
Jayakrupakar Nallala
Sarah E Pinder
Liping Fu
Esther H Lips
Lorraine King
Jeffrey Marks
Allison Hall
Lars J Grimm
Thomas Lynch
Donna Pinto
Hilary Stobart
E Shelley Hwang
Jelle Wesseling
Kalotina Geraki
Nicholas Stone
Iain D Lyburn
Charlene Greenwood
Keith D Rogers
Grand Challenge PRECISION Consortium

Publication Date

6-8-2023

Journal

Scientific Reports

Abstract

Ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) accounts for 20-25% of all new breast cancer diagnoses. DCIS has an uncertain risk of progression to invasive breast cancer and a lack of predictive biomarkers may result in relatively high levels (~ 75%) of overtreatment. To identify unique prognostic biomarkers of invasive progression, crystallographic and chemical features of DCIS microcalcifications have been explored. Samples from patients with at least 5-years of follow up and no known recurrence (174 calcifications in 67 patients) or ipsilateral invasive breast cancer recurrence (179 microcalcifications in 57 patients) were studied. Significant differences were noted between the two groups including whitlockite relative mass, hydroxyapatite and whitlockite crystal maturity and, elementally, sodium to calcium ion ratio. A preliminary predictive model for DCIS to invasive cancer progression was developed from these parameters with an AUC of 0.797. These results provide insights into the differing DCIS tissue microenvironments, and how these impact microcalcification formation.

Keywords

Humans, Female, Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating, Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast, Crystallography, Calcinosis, Breast Neoplasms, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local, Tumor Microenvironment

Comments

Data Availability Statement

PMID: 37291276