Breast Cancer: Early diagnosis using materials immortalisation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of breast calcifications in benign and malignant biopsy samples using elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, and vibrational spectroscopy - for diagnosis of malignancy and prediction of progression.
IRAS ID
274747
Contact name
Keith Rogers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cranfield University
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Calcifications play an important role in the early detection of breast cancer: A suspicious pattern of radiographically visible calcifications is frequently the earliest diagnostic sign, and many small breast tumours are detected on the basis of calcifications alone. Despite that, the physical and chemical characteristics of calcifications remains poorly understood. Recent research has shown that some characteristics of calcifications vary with pathology, and those differences have potential for use both in diagnosis and as markers to show which cancers most likely to advance rapidly. However, it is essential that any new techniques are underpinned by a detailed understanding of chemistry / pathology relationships and their limitations, before they can be translated to the clinic. Calcifications are of particular interest as a biomarker due to the fact that apatite crystallites can incorporate 'foreign' environmental ions at the time of precipitation. Chemical features of tissue physiology at the point of formation become immortalised within calcifications. Precipitation is triggered by slight modifications to tissue chemistry and this, in the case of breast tissue, occurs at the very onset of the cancer. This makes it possible to study the early chemical changes in a wide range of tumour subtypes by characterising calcifications within specimens from diagnostic archives. Successful outcomes from this work will aid timely diagnosis and accurate estimation of prognosis in breast cancer.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/NW/0057
Date of REC Opinion
5 Feb 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion