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Correlation between Choline Peak at MR Spectroscopy and Calcium-Sensing Receptor Expression Level in Breast Cancer: A Preliminary Clinical Study

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Abstract

Purpose

The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is overexpressed in many pathological states including breast cancer. Since choline kinase may be activated in breast cancer cells by CaSR resulting in increased phosphocholine production, we sought to correlate the total choline peak in breast lesions as measured by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) with the CaSR expression levels in surgical specimens.

Procedures

Thirty-six patients with breast lesions were MR scanned at 3T scanner. Tumour morphology and DCE-MR kinetics were evaluated. 1H-MRS was applied for Cho detection and compared with the CaSR immunohistochemistry analysis (score 0–5) on surgical breast specimens.

Results

Thirty-four lesions demonstrated a DCE malignant kinetics curve (types 2 and 3), while two lesions showed a benign (type 1). Twenty of the 23 breast cancer lesions (87 %) with a consistent Cho peak expressed a CaSR score of 3–5, and ten of the 11 breast lesions negative for Cho (91 %) had a CaSR score of 1–2. The two benign lesions showed a non-uniform/weak intense expression of the CaSR (score 3) with a consistent Cho peak.

Conclusions

The presence or absence of choline peak evaluated by 1H-MRS, well correlated with the expression of CaSR in patients with breast lesions (p < 0.01), supports the hypothesis that CaSR may play an important role in the production of choline in breast cancer.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mrs Teresa Morris, Coordinator of Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging, University of Aberdeen, UK, for his helpful revision of the manuscript, in particular for English editing.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diagnostic Imaging and Senology Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria (AOU) San Martino—IST—National Cancer Institute, 16132, Genoa, Italy

    Gabriella Baio, Giuseppe Rescinito, Francesca Rosa, Daniele Pace, Luca Basso, Massimo Calabrese & Carlo Emanuele Neumaier

  2. Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Gabriella Baio

  3. Department of Pathology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria (AOU) San Martino—IST—National Cancer Institute, 16132, Genoa, Italy

    Simona Boccardo, Sandra Salvi & Mauro Truini

Authors
  1. Gabriella Baio
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  2. Giuseppe Rescinito
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  3. Francesca Rosa
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  4. Daniele Pace
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  5. Simona Boccardo
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  6. Luca Basso
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  7. Sandra Salvi
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  8. Massimo Calabrese
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  9. Mauro Truini
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  10. Carlo Emanuele Neumaier
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Correspondence to Gabriella Baio.

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Baio, G., Rescinito, G., Rosa, F. et al. Correlation between Choline Peak at MR Spectroscopy and Calcium-Sensing Receptor Expression Level in Breast Cancer: A Preliminary Clinical Study. Mol Imaging Biol 17, 548–556 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-015-0823-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-015-0823-y

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