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Lookup NU author(s): Kangwa Nkonde, Dr Gabe Cheung, Dr Jiabao He
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Copyright © 2025 Nkonde, Cheung, Senn and He.Introduction: Precise understanding of proliferative activity in breast cancer holds significant value in the monitoring of neoadjuvant treatment, while current immunostaining of Ki-67 from biopsy or resected tumour suffers from partial sampling error. Multi-compartment model of transverse relaxation time has been proposed to differentiate intra- and extra-cellular space and biochemical environment but susceptible to noise, with recent development of Bayesian algorithm suggested to improve robustness. We hence hypothesise that intra- and extra-cellular transverse relaxation times using Bayesian algorithm might be sensitive to proliferative activity. Materials and methods: Twenty whole tumour specimens freshly excised from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma were scanned on a 3 T clinical scanner. The overall transverse relaxation time was computed using a single-compartment model with the non-linear least squares algorithm, while intra- and extra-cellular transverse relaxation times were computed using a multi-compartment model with the Bayesian algorithm. Immunostaining of Ki-67 was conducted, yielding 9 and 11 cases with high and low proliferating activities respectively. Results: For single-compartment model, there was a significant higher overall transverse relaxation time (p = 0.031) in high (83.55 ± 7.38 ms) against low (73.30 ± 11.30 ms) proliferating tumours. For multi-compartment model, there was a significant higher intra-cellular transverse relaxation time (p = 0.047) in high (73.52 ± 10.92 ms) against low (61.30 ± 14.01 ms) proliferating tumours. There was no significant difference in extra-cellular transverse relaxation time (p = 0.203) between high and low proliferating tumours. Conclusions: Overall and Bayesian intra-cellular transverse relaxation times are associated with proliferative activities in breast tumours, potentially serving as a non-invasive imaging marker for neoadjuvant treatment monitoring.
Author(s): Nkonde KA, Cheung SM, Senn N, He J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Frontiers in Oncology
Year: 2025
Volume: 15
Online publication date: 30/01/2025
Acceptance date: 08/01/2025
Date deposited: 25/02/2025
ISSN (electronic): 2234-943X
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2025.1482112
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1482112
Data Access Statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation
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