MD Anderson maps more than 850,000 cells around ductal carcinoma in situ, a stage 0 breast cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have created one of the most detailed maps to date of the cell environment around ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common form of preinvasive, or stage 0, breast cancer. According to news-medical.net, the work was published in Science and analyzed more than 850,000 cells from samples of normal breast tissue, DCIS and invasive breast cancer news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗. The study was co-led by Nicholas Navin, chair of Systems Biology, and Savitri Krishnamurthy, professor of Anatomical Pathology. The co-first authors are Siyuan He and Aatish Thennavan.

The authors say the findings may help explain why some lesions progress to invasive disease and others do not. DCIS occurs when abnormal cells grow inside the breast milk ducts but have not yet spread into surrounding tissue. Mammograms and other breast examinations have increased detection of DCIS, but many of these lesions never become invasive, so it is hard to determine which patients need more aggressive treatment.

Tumor microenvironment

Genetic changes in DCIS have been well studied, while little is known about its tumor microenvironment: the immune cells, blood vessels and tissue cells that surround and interact with cancer cells. To fill this gap, the team used single-cell and spatial profiling technologies. They identified extensive changes in both cancer cells and the surrounding microenvironment as the disease progressed.

The atlas suggests that important biological features associated with invasive breast cancer begin to emerge earlier than previously known news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗.

Cancer stromal loops

The study also described previously unknown "cancer stromal loops". These are ring-like structures made of supportive tissue and vascular cells that surround DCIS lesions. According to the authors, they create conditions that support tumor growth.

The authors state that additional research is needed to validate the findings and to evaluate their use in future diagnostic tools and prevention or treatment strategies. The team will continue studying the identified cellular features to determine whether they can predict which DCIS lesions are most likely to become invasive. In the future, Navin said, this may allow clinicians to better identify patients at higher risk and avoid unnecessary treatment for those at low risk.

The paper is titled "A cellular atlas of the preinvasive breast cancer microenvironment" (DOI: 10.1126/science.aef4622) news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗.