A real-time understanding of the progression of breast tumour is crucial for a successful treatment. However, it is often hard to achieve – assessing how aggressive a cancer is and whether chemotherapy treatments are taking effect usually takes some time.
Now scientists at the universities of York and Cambridge found developed a technique using sodium magnetic resonance imaging, which could help diagnose and treat breast cancer.
Breast cancer cells accumulate salt – the more salt it has, the more aggressive the tumour is going to be. Image credit: National Cancer Institute via Wikimedia
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Sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows scientists to take a look at salt accumulation inside cancer cells. Scientists found that more active tumours accumulated more sodium, which makes sodium MRI an effective diagnostic technique. It should help medical professionals to assess the aggressiveness of breast cancer as well as track the progression of the treatment. Essentially, this approach could lead to accurate and timely adjustments in the chosen therapy option.
Scientists analysed a group of 18 tumours. Some of them were targeted with chemotherapy treatment. Then researchers performed sodium MRI analysis and discovered that sodium levels had reduced in the tumours treated with chemotherapy.
Dr William Brackenbury, senior author of the study, said: “We have known for a while that solid tumours are high in salt, but this research brings us a step closer to understanding why. Our findings show that the high levels of sodium in breast cancer tumours is coming from inside the cancer cells rather than the surrounding tissue fluid, meaning that there is something strange about their metabolic activity which leads to them accumulating more salt than healthy cells do.”
Researchers believe that sodium MRI could potentially be a vital tool for breast cancer diagnosis and monitoring of the treatment progress. Scientists now moved on towards observational study to see if their results can be replicated in human breast cancer patients. Sodium MRI scanners are very rare, but researchers believe that their work could and should change that.
Furthermore, this study could actually produce some important knowledge about the function of sodium in cancer cells. Scientists now think that sodium-blocking drugs could slow the growth and spread of tumours. This could be one of the directions of where this research can take us. And, of course, while sodium MRI machines are rare, the technology itself should be improved before it becomes a standard in breast cancer treatment and diagnosis.
Source: University of York