A new study shifts the long-held belief that all invasive breast cancers following ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) arise from the original DCIS lesion. The results, published in Nature Genetics, demonstrate that roughly one in five invasive cancers were genetically unrelated to the original DCIS.
The findings provide a deeper understanding of the biology of DCIS, serving as a foundation for future studies to better identify cases of DCIS most likely to progress and to determine appropriate intervention strategies for women with DCIS.
“By analyzing the largest DCIS cohort of its kind in the world, we discovered that a subset of invasive breast cancers following an initial DCIS are not related to the primary DCIS,” said co-lead author. “This data challenges our prior understanding of DCIS progression and gives us a starting point to identify better predictive biomarkers to determine which DCIS lesions are most likely to progress to invasive cancer.”
DCIS, which indicates the presence of abnormal cells inside the breast milk duct, is the most common form of pre-invasive breast cancer. The condition is harmless in most; less than 10% of women with DCIS will later develop an invasive cancer.
Because it’s currently hard to predict which cases of DCIS will progress, treatment is recommended for most cases to prevent the development of invasive cancer. Therefore, most patients diagnosed with DCIS are treated with some combination of surgery, radiation and hormone therapy that will ultimately provide little benefit.
This study was designed to determine whether subsequent invasive breast cancers are, in fact, connected to the original DCIS. Because there are relatively few women with DCIS who later develop invasive cancer, obtaining samples for this study was a challenge. Through the global collaboration, the team was able to pool and analyze 95 pairs of samples from women who had DCIS, were treated and later developed invasive cancer in the same breast.
The researchers performed genomic sequencing on all samples, including single-cell DNA sequencing on a subset, to compare mutations and copy number changes between the DCIS and invasive cancer.
The combined results of these analyses revealed that 75% of paired samples were indeed related, meaning they shared the same genetic abnormalities and the invasive cancer developed from the DCIS lesion.
However, the researchers also discovered that 18% of the paired samples were unrelated, suggesting the invasive cancer later developed independently of the original DCIS lesion. A final 7% of samples had ambiguous results, and researchers were not able to clarify a relationship.
These findings demonstrate that around one in five cases of invasive cancer following DCIS are not true recurrences, but instead represent new cancers. These results may explain why it has remained difficult for researchers to identify biomarkers that accurately predict the risk of DCIS recurrence. Future studies will build upon these findings to discover risk factors for women with DCIS likely to develop either a recurrence or a new cancer.
“Our study indicates we can no longer consider DCIS solely as a precursor but rather also a risk factor for the development of invasive breast cancer later on in life,” says joint senior author. “This important new information about DCIS biology and behaviour, together with other findings, could change the way we manage and treat the condition in clinics in the future.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-022-01082-3
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fgenomic-analysis_2&filter=22
Not all post-DCIS breast cancers develop from original lesion
- 1,371 views
- Added
Latest News
Tumor infiltration of immun…
By newseditor
Posted 28 May
New light-controlled 'off s…
By newseditor
Posted 28 May
Gene function during embryo…
By newseditor
Posted 28 May
Formation of 3D blood vesse…
By newseditor
Posted 27 May
Liver regeneration during c…
By newseditor
Posted 27 May
Other Top Stories
Extra weight in 60s is associated with brain thinning years later
Read more
Smooth muscle cells on the artery wall changes identity to protect…
Read more
Certain types of exercises can ward off weight gain from obesity ge…
Read more
Combined hormone injection aids weight loss in obese patients
Read more
Heavy screen time linked with overweight among children
Read more
Protocols
SEMORE: SEgmentation and MO…
By newseditor
Posted 26 May
Spatially resolved lipidomi…
By newseditor
Posted 24 May
Efficient expansion and CRI…
By newseditor
Posted 21 May
Massively parallel in vivo…
By newseditor
Posted 20 May
Breast cancer-on-chip for p…
By newseditor
Posted 16 May
Publications
Advanced microbiome therape…
By newseditor
Posted 29 May
Hippocampal astrocytes indu…
By newseditor
Posted 29 May
TNIK's emerging role in can…
By newseditor
Posted 29 May
Diabetes drugs activate neu…
By newseditor
Posted 29 May
Circadian tumor infiltratio…
By newseditor
Posted 28 May
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar