Project Details
Projekt
MR-biosignatures as a guide for stratification of breast cancer risk assessment
Subject Area
Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiobiology
Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 500888779
Most women who develop breast cancer were previously considered to be at average risk for the disease prior to their diagnosis. About 40% of all breast cancer cases develop in women without any currently known risk factor. It has been suggested that the microenvironmental characteristics of the fibroglandular breast tissue (FGT) may represent a determining factor for susceptibility to breast cancer. However, no in vivo imaging (or non-imaging) based method is currently able to capture the comprehensive profile of the different complex tissue properties in a “one-stop shop” manner. Using ultra-high field (UHF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) might enable one to measure markers of complex tissue characteristics ranging from macrocomposition (e.g., FGT/fat ratio, absolute FGT volume) to the multidimensional microstructural level (e.g., collagen deposition and alignment, presence of immune cells, protein- and ion-environment [e.g., ion concentration]) within a single MRI examination. The hypothesis of this project is thus that a 7T UHF breast MRI signature scan of the FGT, which combines a comprehensive and biophysiologically reasoned set of tissue properties relevant to breast cancer development in vivo, can be cast into a MR biosignature that distinguishes between women at high risk and women at average risk for developing breast cancer. The long-term vision for the project is to decipher novel breast cancer risk factors and to advance the individualization of breast cancer risk stratification, enabling the detection of high-risk constellations in women earlier, thereby personalizing breast cancer screening both in terms of screening methods and intervals.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Co-Investigator
Professorin Dr. Evelyn Wenkel
