Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications

Abstract Despite the importance of calcifications in early detection of breast cancer, and their suggested role in modulating breast cancer cell behaviour, very little detail is known about their chemical composition or how this relates to pathology. We measured the elemental composition of calcific...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Robert Scott, Catherine Kendall, Nicholas Stone, Keith Rogers
Format:	article
Language:	EN
Published:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Subjects:	Medicine R Science Q
Online Access:	https://doaj.org/article/ef793b1929574b2eb87823b47f465472
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:ef793b1929574b2eb87823b47f465472
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ef793b1929574b2eb87823b47f4654722021-12-02T15:05:17ZElemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications10.1038/s41598-017-00183-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/ef793b1929574b2eb87823b47f4654722017-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00183-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Despite the importance of calcifications in early detection of breast cancer, and their suggested role in modulating breast cancer cell behaviour, very little detail is known about their chemical composition or how this relates to pathology. We measured the elemental composition of calcifications contained within histological sections of breast tissue biopsies, and related this to both crystallographic parameters measured previously in the same specimens, and to the histopathology report. The Ca:P ratio is of particular interest since this theoretically has potential as a non-invasive aid to diagnosis; this was found to lie in a narrow range similar to bone, with no significant difference between benign and malignant. The Mg:Ca ratio is also of interest due to the observed association of magnesium whitlockite with malignancy. The initially surprising inverse correlation found between whitlockite fraction and magnesium concentration can be explained by the location of the magnesium in calcified tissue. Sodium was also measured, and we discovered a substantial and significant difference in Na:Ca ratio in the apatite phase between benign and malignant specimens. This has potential for revealing malignant changes in the vicinity of a core needle biopsy.Robert ScottCatherine KendallNicholas StoneKeith RogersNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Robert Scott Catherine Kendall Nicholas Stone Keith Rogers Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
description	Abstract Despite the importance of calcifications in early detection of breast cancer, and their suggested role in modulating breast cancer cell behaviour, very little detail is known about their chemical composition or how this relates to pathology. We measured the elemental composition of calcifications contained within histological sections of breast tissue biopsies, and related this to both crystallographic parameters measured previously in the same specimens, and to the histopathology report. The Ca:P ratio is of particular interest since this theoretically has potential as a non-invasive aid to diagnosis; this was found to lie in a narrow range similar to bone, with no significant difference between benign and malignant. The Mg:Ca ratio is also of interest due to the observed association of magnesium whitlockite with malignancy. The initially surprising inverse correlation found between whitlockite fraction and magnesium concentration can be explained by the location of the magnesium in calcified tissue. Sodium was also measured, and we discovered a substantial and significant difference in Na:Ca ratio in the apatite phase between benign and malignant specimens. This has potential for revealing malignant changes in the vicinity of a core needle biopsy.
format	article
author	Robert Scott Catherine Kendall Nicholas Stone Keith Rogers
author_facet	Robert Scott Catherine Kendall Nicholas Stone Keith Rogers
author_sort	Robert Scott
title	Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
title_short	Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
title_full	Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
title_fullStr	Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
title_full_unstemmed	Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
title_sort	elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/ef793b1929574b2eb87823b47f465472
work_keys_str_mv	AT robertscott elementalvsphasecompositionofbreastcalcifications AT catherinekendall elementalvsphasecompositionofbreastcalcifications AT nicholasstone elementalvsphasecompositionofbreastcalcifications AT keithrogers elementalvsphasecompositionofbreastcalcifications
_version_	1718388929761116160

Elemental vs. phase composition of breast calcifications

Similar Items