Clinical study confirms tissue stiffening in breast cancer can drive metastasis

A study published in Clinical Cancer Research confirmed that tissue stiffening in the most common types of breast cancer, HER2-negative, can directly cause disease progression and metastasis, leading to detrimental outcomes for patients. The work was a collaboration between researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and clinicians in Spain.

Researchers led by Miguel Quintela-Fandino, MD, at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center evaluated the MeCo ScoreÔ, a diagnostic test invented at the University of Arizona, and determined that it can potentially predict the likelihood of relapse or recurrence among patients with early-stage breast cancer.

When standard chemotherapy alone was prescribed in the neoadjuvant setting, high MeCo Scores were associated with much worse survival compared with low MeCo Scores; however, this difference in survival was minimized in patients who received antifibrotic therapy in addition to chemotherapy. Among high MeCo Score patients, antifibrotic therapy reduced the risk of recurrence by 62%, with an average follow-up period of 9.7 years after therapy. 

The link between breast cancer progression to bone metastasis and fibrosis was first described in a 2021 study published in Cell Reports and authored by Ghassan Mouneimne, PhD, an associate professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson and of cancer biology in the Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute at the U of A Cancer Center. That study determined the MeCo Score is a prognostic biomarker in breast cancer, while this new study establishes the MeCo Score as a predictive biomarker for antifibrotic benefit in HER2-negative breast cancer patients.

Read more on the University of Arizona Health Sciences website.