Towards early detection of breast cancer in high risk population
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Robust EArly Detection of bReast cancer in hIgh riSK premenopausal population using novel lipid based imaging methods (READ RISK)
IRAS ID
303254
Contact name
Jiabao He
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 30 days
Research summary
Breast cancer is a major and growing health challenge, and the leading cause of cancer in Scottish women. As population obesity rates increase, the number of new cases continues to rise, and despite treatment advances, it remains an important cause of premature mortality, taking women in the prime of life. Although underlying susceptibility caused by mutation in the genes BRCA1/2 and TP53 is increasingly identified, current pre-symptomatic screening for the general population and those at high genetic risk remains sub-optimal, with high false negative and positive rates.
Alteration of breast lipid composition has been observed by us and others in patients with breast cancer and is thought to precede onset. We have developed and tested a novel system to allow a standard 3T MRI scanner to perform quantitative 3D mapping of specific lipid molecules in the breast.
We have already shown that we can visualise altered levels of lipids around tumour (peri-tumoural lipids) in surgically removed breast specimens and have successfully demonstrated the technique in vivo in pre-treated postmenopausal breast cancers. We will conduct a trial to see if this method can detect very early breast cancers, and compare the amount and spread of lipid composition in breast tissue of premenopausal women with breast cancer, obese women without cancer, and those with very high genetic risk of breast cancer.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0020
Date of REC Opinion
10 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion