Correlation study of ultrasound signs of breast cancer with THRSP and ACACA protein expression

Background: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between ultrasound signs of breast cancer and the expression of thyroid hormone response protein Spot14 (THRSP) and Acetyl CoA carboxylases 1 (ACACA). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 150 patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer who were admitted to our hospital between January 2022 and December 2023. Ultrasound signs of breast lesions were assessed, and the expression levels of THRSP and ACACA proteins in tumor and adjacent normal tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results: The percentage of high THRSP and ACACA expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues compared to paracancerous tissues (p < 0.05). Patients with irregular mass morphology, diameter ≥2 cm, rich blood flow, and lymph node metastasis exhibited significantly higher THRSP and ACACA expressions than those with regular morphology, diameter <2 cm, lack of blood flow, and no lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Expression of THRSP and ACACA protein was positively correlated with irregular tumor morphology, lesion diameter ≥2 cm, abundant vascularity, and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified irregular mass morphology, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage III as independent risk factors for high THRSP expression (p < 0.05), while irregular mass morphology, lymph node metastasis, mass diameter ≥2 cm, and clinical stage III were independent risk factors for high ACACA expression (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Ultrasound signs were significantly associated with THRSP and ACACA expressions in breast cancer tissues. These findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the potential of integrating imaging characteristics with molecular markers to enhance the diagnostic and prognostic evaluation of breast cancer.

Breast cancer; Ultrasound signs; Thyroid hormone response protein Spot14; Acetyl CoA carboxylases 1

[1] Nie Y, Ying B, Lu Z, Sun T, Sun G. Predicting survival and prognosis of postoperative breast cancer brain metastasis: a population-based retrospective analysis. Chinese Medical Journal. 2023; 136: 1699–1707.

[2] Williams LJ, Kunkler IH, Taylor KJ, Dunlop J, Piper T, Caldwell J, et al. Postoperative radiotherapy in women with early operable breast cancer (Scottish breast conservation trial): 30-year update of a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet Oncology. 2024; 25: 1213–1221.

[3] Wang Y, Li Y, Song Y, Chen C, Wang Z, Li L, et al. Comparison of ultrasound and mammography for early diagnosis of breast cancer among Chinese women with suspected breast lesions: a prospective trial. Thoracic Cancer. 2022; 13: 3145–3151.

[4] Huang Z, Chen L, Wang Y, Fu L, Lv R. Molecular markers, pathology, and ultrasound features of invasive breast cancer. Clinical Imaging. 2021; 79: 85–93.

[5] Fu Y, Zhou J, Li J. Diagnostic performance of ultrasound-based artificial intelligence for predicting key molecular markers in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2024; 19: e0303669.

[6] Ding Y, Liu X, Yuan Y, Sheng Y, Li D, Ojha SC, et al. THRSP identified as a potential hepatocellular carcinoma marker by integrated bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation. Aging. 2022; 14: 1743–1766.

[7] Huang YC, Hou MF, Tsai YM, Pan YC, Tsai PH, Lin YS, et al. Involvement of ACACA (acetyl-CoA carboxylase α) in the lung pre-metastatic niche formation in breast cancer by senescence phenotypic conversion in fibroblasts. Cellular Oncology. 2023; 46: 643–660.

[8] He F, Liu Q, Liu H, Pei Q, Zhu H. Circular RNA ACACA negatively regulated p53-modulated mevalonate pathway to promote colorectal tumorigenesis via regulating miR-193a/b-3p/HDAC3 axis. Molecular Carcinogenesis. 2023; 62: 754–770.

[9] Goodwin PJ, Chen BE, Gelmon KA, Whelan TJ, Ennis M, Lemieux J, et al. Effect of metformin vs. placebo on invasive disease-free survival in patients with breast cancer: the MA.32 randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2022; 327: 1963–1973.

[10] Assidi M. Strong prognostic value of SLAMF7 protein expression in patients with lymph node-positive breast cancer. Oncology Letters. 2022; 24: 433.

[11] Sechel G, Rogozea LM, Roman NA, Ciurescu D, Cocuz ME, Manea RM. Analysis of breast cancer subtypes and their correlations with receptors and ultrasound. Romanian Journal of Morphology and Embryology. 2021; 62: 269–278.

[12] Zhao X, Yang X, Fu L, Yu K. Associations of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidemic growth factor receptor-2 and Ki-67 with ultrasound signs and prognosis of breast cancer patients. Cancer Management and Research. 2021; 13: 4579–4586.

[13] Zipinotti Dos Santos D, de Souza JC, Pimenta TM, da Silva Martins B, Junior RSR, Butzene SMS, et al. The impact of lipid metabolism on breast cancer: a review about its role in tumorigenesis and immune escape. Cell Communication and Signaling. 2023; 21: 161.

[14] Ahonen MA, Höring M, Nguyen VD, Qadri S, Taskinen JH, Nagaraj M, et al. Insulin-inducible THRSP maintains mitochondrial function and regulates sphingolipid metabolism in human adipocytes. Molecular Medicine. 2022; 28: 68.

[15] Hu S, Tey SK, Kwong A. Adipogenesis biomarkers as the independent predictive factors for breast cancer recurrence: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Cancer. 2024; 24: 1181.

[16] Shen Y, Wang X, Ni Z, Xu S, Qiu S, Zheng W, et al. Identification of acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha as a prognostic and targeted candidate for hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical and Translational Oncology. 2023; 25: 2499–2513.

[17] Choi HS, Song JY, Shin KH, Chang JH, Jang BS. Developing prompts from large language model for extracting clinical information from pathology and ultrasound reports in breast cancer. Radiation Oncology Journal. 2023; 41: 209–216.

[18] Conti M, Morciano F, Amodeo S, Gori E, Romanucci G, Belli P, et al. Special types of breast cancer: clinical behavior and radiological appearance. Journal of Imaging. 2024; 10: 182.

[19] Park AY, Han MR, Seo BK, Ju HY, Son GS, Lee HY, et al. MRI-based breast cancer radiogenomics using RNA profiling: association with subtypes in a single-center prospective study. Breast Cancer Research. 2023; 25: 79.

[20] Okada N, Ueki C, Shimazaki M, Tsujimoto G, Kohno S, Muranaka H, et al. NFYA promotes malignant behavior of triple-negative breast cancer in mice through the regulation of lipid metabolism. Communications Biology. 2023; 6: 596.

[21] Peiffer DS, Zhao F, Chen N, Hahn OM, Nanda R, Olopade OI, et al. Clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of ERBB2-low breast cancer among patients in the national cancer database. JAMA Oncology. 2023; 9: 500–510.