Search

Purpose To investigate the water and lipid composition of normal women breasts on proton MR spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS), and the association of breast cancer risk factors with 1 H-MRS parameters. Materials and methods Three groups of participants were included: group 1, women without a family history of breast cancer (n = 49); group 2, women with at least one affected first-degree relative (n = 77); group 3, contralateral normal breasts of women with newly diagnosed unilateral breast cancer (n = 84). 1 H-MRS parameters were shown below: water fraction 1 (WF1) = (water integral)/(water integral + integral for methylene peak); lipid line width for methylene resonance (LW1) and lipid line width for methyl peaks (LW2) were measured. The association of breast cancer risk factors – age, breast density, body mass index (BMI), menopausal status, group with 1 H-MRS parameters – was analyzed by multiple linear regression. Results In age-adjusted multiple linear regression, breast density was positively associated with WF1 ( P = 0.009, 0.001, and < 0.001 for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively). BMI was inversely associated with LW1 in groups 1 ( P = 0.040) and 3 ( P = 0.005). In group 3, premenopausal breasts had lower LW2 than their postmenopausal counterparts ( P = 0.033). Group 3 had narrower LW2 than group 2 ( P = 0.007). Conclusions The risk factors for breast cancer were associated with 1 H-MRS parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is an evolving technology used to elucidate the cellular architecture of adult organs. Previous scRNA-seq on breast tissue utilized reduction mammoplasty samples, which are often histologically abnormal. We report a rapid tissue collection/processing protocol to perform scRNA-seq of breast biopsies of healthy women and identify 23 breast epithelial cell clusters. Putative cell-of-origin signatures derived from these clusters are applied to analyze transcriptomes of ~3,000 breast cancers. Gene signatures derived from mature luminal cell clusters are enriched in ~68% of breast cancers, whereas a signature from a luminal progenitor cluster is enriched in ~20% of breast cancers. Overexpression of luminal progenitor cluster-derived signatures in HER2+, but not in other subtypes, is associated with unfavorable outcome. We identify TBX3 and PDK4 as genes co-expressed with estrogen receptor (ER) in the normal breasts, and their expression analyses in >550 breast cancers enable prognostically relevant subclassification of ER+ breast cancers., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 The Author(s).)