Looking at tumor biopsies with a powerful multi-photon laser microscope
and watching for certain optical patterns has given researchers a new
way to judge whether breast cancer cells are likely to spread.
A new study shows that the optical signals independently predicted
metastasis-free survival and overall survival based on 125 tissue
samples obtained from patients in the Netherlands.
The women, with an average age of 52, each were diagnosed with a common
form of early-stage breast cancer: lymph-node-negative,
estrogen-sensitive, invasive ductal carcinoma, and were not treated with
chemotherapy. Scientists followed their cases for 15 years and
correlated the outcomes to the optical signature of each tumor.
Trained pigeons peck to signal breast cancer
The microscope shines lasers
on cancerous tissue and then allows scientists to study how the light
scatters as malignant cells move. Because the scattered light patterns
can seemingly predict how cancer will behave later on, researchers
believe the data could perhaps add new information to what is currently
provided to patients at diagnosis.
“Our goal is to aid in treatment decisions by complementing the
information that’s already available, to help women avoid being
over-treated,” says Edward Brown, associate professor of biomedical
engineering at the University of Rochester.
Currently patients and oncologists use detailed pathology reports,
genomic tests, and imaging to make decisions about breast cancer
prognosis and therapy. However, these tools have varying degrees of
accuracy, particularly for predicting the course of early-stage disease.
In those cases the tumor is small and cancer is not detected in the
surrounding lymph nodes, yet approximately 40 percent of patients in
this category fall into a gray area and receive chemotherapy when they
might not need it.
Brown has been working for a decade to improve upon diagnostic
technology. His discovery, reported in the journal BMC Cancer, is based
on a signal called second harmonic generation, which is produced by the
collagen and other fibrous matter that surrounds a tumor, like garden
soil around a spring bulb. Scientists track second harmonic generation
signals using the high-intensity light of a laser, and in Brown’s lab
they study how the structure of the fibers impacts the direction of
scattered light.
Time for a mammogram? Depends on menopause, not age
Watching cancer cells travel amid collagen fibers is like observing city
dwellers trying to get out of town for the weekend, Brown says. Some
fibers around tumors are analogous to smooth roads, others are like
roads with potholes and obstacles. The structures may affect the ease
with which cancer cells travel, and is visualized with the light
scattering technique.
Earlier work by Kathleen Burke, an investigator in Brown’s lab, first
demonstrated the association between optical measurements and properties
of many types of breast tumors. The next step is to confirm the data in
a larger study of breast cancer patients who have been treated with
chemotherapy, and to devise a predictive formula or “score” based on the
light patterns from their tissue samples that could be included in a
patient’s pathology report, Brown says.
UR Ventures has filed for US and foreign patent protection of the
invention and methods used in Brown’s lab. The NIH and the US Department
of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program funded the work.
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