Poster Presentation Joint 2016 COSA and ANZBCTG Annual Scientific Meeting

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Mammographic Density (#280)

Honor J Hugo 1 , Konstantin I Momot 2 , Mark Wellard 2 , Thomas Lloyd 3 4 , Erik W Thompson 1
  1. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, QUT, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia
  2. Science and Engineering, QUT, Gardens Point, QLD, Australia
  3. Radiology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
  4. Radiology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia

The highest quartile of MD independently infers a 4-6 fold increased risk of BC over the lowest quartile once adjusted for age and body mass index, second only to BRCA1/2 status. MD also has an impact on detection of BC using mammography: the increase risk of BC detected between mammograms from the highest versus the lowest quartile is disproportionately high (~17 fold). At this current time there is a lack of understanding of exactly what molecularly and structurally contributes to MD, a comprehensive body of knowledge is needed on MD that is informative to the scientific and clinical community. We aim to identify the molecules that contribute to MD, and the increased risk associated with high MD. Previous studies have shown a significant increase in the amount of dense connective tissue in HMD regions, at the expense of adipose content (Huo et al., 2014). We are currently assessing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) parameters such as T2 spin-relaxation time constants (T2), along with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR-spectroscopy) metabolite profiles, in LMD versus HMD material. These measurements will ultimately be combined with SWATH-MS proteomic profiling towards identification of the molecules that contribute to MD. The results of this study will form a valuable resource for the medical research community and a paradigm shift in breast cancer screening.