Imaging Method Designed to Stratify Breast Cancer Without Biopsy

Scientists have discovered a possible way for malignant breast tumors to be detected, without the need for a biopsy.

The study's findings were published online in December 2009 ahead of print in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). Current imaging technologies miss up to 30 percent of breast cancers and cannot differentiate malignant tumors from benign tumors, thus requiring invasive biopsies. Approximately 5.6 million biopsies performed in the United States find only benign lesions. These biopsies cause considerable stress for the patients and have significantly high costs.

"The challenge has been to develop an imaging agent that will target a specific, fingerprint biomarker that visualizes malignant breast lesions early and reliably,” said Mathew Thakur, Ph.D., professor of radiology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA, USA) and director of Radiopharmaceutical Research and Nuclear Medicine Research.

Dr. Thakur and colleagues evaluated an agent called ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805, which is used to evaluate tumors via positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805 detects breast cancer by finding a biomarker called VPAC1, which is overexpressed as the tumor develops. The researchers compared the images using that agent with images using the gold standard imaging agent, ¹⁸F-FDG. They used MMTVneu mice, which are mice that develop breast tumors spontaneously, similar to humans. The mice first received a PET scan using the ¹⁸F-FDG. Then they received a computed tomography (CT) scan, and then they received another PET scan using ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805.

Ten tumors were detected on the mice. Four tumors were detected using both ¹⁸F-FDG and ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805, and four additional tumors were found with ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805 only. All eight of these tumors overexpressed the VPAC1 oncogene on tumor cells and were malignant by histology. The remaining two tumors were benign and were detected only with ¹⁸F-FDG. They did not express the VPAC1 oncogene, and therefore were not detected by the ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805.

"If this ability of ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805 holds up in humans, then in the future, PET scans with ⁶⁴Cu-TP3805 will significantly contribute to the management of breast cancer,” Dr. Thakur concluded.

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Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University