Subtypes of breast cancer show different spatial distributions of brain metastases

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 20;12(11):e0188542. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188542. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of breast cancer brain metastases (BM) differ according to their biological subtypes. MR images of 100 patients with BM from primary breast cancer were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided according to the biological subtype of the primary tumor, (triple-negative: 24, HER2 positive: 48, luminal: 28). All images marked with BMs were standardized to the human brain MRI atlas provided by the Montreal Neurological Institute 152 database. Distribution pattern of BM was evaluated with intra-group and intergroup analysis. In intra-group analysis, hot spots of metastases from triple-negative are evenly distributed in the brain, meanwhile BMs from HER2 positive and luminal type occur dominantly in occipital lobe and cerebellum. In intergroup analysis, BMs from triple-negative type occurred more often in frontal lobe, limbic region, and parietal lobe, compared with other types (P < .05). Breast cancer subtypes tend to demonstrate different spatial distributions of their BMs. These findings may have direct implications for dose modulation in prophylactic irradiation as well as for differential diagnoses. Thus, this result should be validated in future study with a larger population.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Atlases as Topic
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Brain Neoplasms / classification*
  • Brain Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain Neoplasms / genetics
  • Brain Neoplasms / secondary
  • Breast Neoplasms / classification*
  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cerebellum / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebellum / metabolism
  • Cerebellum / pathology
  • Databases, Factual
  • Female
  • Frontal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Frontal Lobe / metabolism
  • Frontal Lobe / pathology
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • Limbic Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Limbic Lobe / metabolism
  • Limbic Lobe / pathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Middle Aged
  • Occipital Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Occipital Lobe / metabolism
  • Occipital Lobe / pathology
  • Parietal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Parietal Lobe / metabolism
  • Parietal Lobe / pathology
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / genetics*
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Receptor, ErbB-2

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP)(No.2017R1C1B5014927). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.