Collagen architecture in triple negative breast cancer

Zoë Dinkel, Adam Baker, Alannah Akins, Kylie L. King, Matthew Harrington, Deborah Kunkel, Zhi Gao, Tong Ye, Heather Dunn

Abstract

This study evaluated collagen properties in TNBC samples collected from different racial groups to determine the presence of variance in matrix architecture. African American (AA) breast cancer patients have a significantly higher mortality rate and nearly a three-fold increased prevalence of triple negative breast cancer.

Introduction

One in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer (BC) during her lifetime, making this disease the most prevalent female cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death across women in the U.S. [1,2].

Materials and methods

This study was provided with ethics committee approval prior to commencing and approved by Clemson University Office of Research Compliance. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a federally mandated body established under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations for the Protection of Human Subjects policy 45 CFR 46.

Results

Among the 10 TWOMBLI parameters and two calculated parameters, seven were found to significantly differ between the racial groups based on a two-sample t-test (Table 1) (Fig 3).

Discussion

The most common BC subtype, ER and/or PR positive and HER2 negative, has a 5-year relative survival rate of 95% while TNBC has one of only 75% due to the lack of effective treatment [4]. Recorded rates for BC mortality and TNBC incidence are disproportionally higher in AA women than C women [5].

Conclusion

Collagen within the ECM significantly influences tumorigenesis, metastasis, and survival and may be a contributing factor to aggressive cancer. Analyzing SHG images through TWOMBLI and FB ratio techniques is an effective method to investigate both macrostructural and microstructural properties of fibrillar collagen.

Citation: Dinkel Z, Baker A, Akins A, King KL, Harrington M, Kunkel D, et al. (2025) Collagen architecture in triple negative breast cancer. PLoS One 20(5): e0324655. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324655

Editor: Karanvir Saini,, University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Received: November 11, 2024; Accepted: April 28, 2025; Published: May 21, 2025

Copyright: © 2025 Dinkel et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: HD received funding for this project. Grant number P20GM103499. SC INBRE (NIH/NIGMS) is the funder. https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/DRCB/IDeA/Pages/INBRE.aspx The sponsors/funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.