Examining salt levels in breast cancer tumours can indicate how aggressive the disease is and if chemotherapy is working, researchers report today.
Researchers at the universities of York and Cambridge developed a technique using sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect salt levels in breast cancer tumours in mice and found that sodium was accumulated inside cancer cells – and that more active tumours accumulate more sodium.
When they took a group of 18 tumours and targeted some of them with chemotherapy treatment, they found, on scanning them a week later, the tumours that had been treated with chemotherapy had reduced sodium levels.
Writing in the *British Journal of Cancer*, they say imaging salt levels could become a vital new tool to help diagnose and monitor breast cancer.
The team is now conducting an observational study to see if their results can be replicated in human breast cancer patients.
Senior study author Dr William Brackenbury from the Department of Biology at the University of York 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.
“There are currently only a handful of sodium MRI scanners across the country, but our study paves the way for them to be used as a new technique for diagnosing breast cancer, monitoring the success of treatments and improving survival rates for patients.”
The team says there is potential for drugs to be developed that would block sodium channels in cancer cells, slowing the growth and spread of tumours.
Dr Charles Evans, research information manager at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study with Breast Cancer Now, said: “The technique also holds the potential to provide us with deeper insights into how breast cancers respond to treatments. What’s more, these techniques could be applied to other cancer types.”
Dr Simon Vincent, Breast Cancer Now’s director of research, support and influencing, added: “It’s vital breast cancer is diagnosed quickly and accurately, and its response to treatment closely monitored, to ensure patients receive the best possible care. This innovative early-stage research into sodium MRI has the potential to improve patient care, giving medical teams more in-depth information.”
Sodium accumulation in breast cancer predicts malignancy and treatment response. *British Journal of Cancer* 25 April 2022
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