0032 Breast cancer and sarcoidosis: Case series and review of the literature

to present an increased and faster uptake due to their high vascularisation, which is directly related to their ability for activating angiogenic molecular pathways. Angiogenesis, in its turn, is directly linked to proliferation, at one extreme, and apoptosis, at the other. The aim of this study was to investigate if data provided by dynamic MRI performed immediately prior to surgery are in fact related to biological features of the tumors associated with angiogenesis, proliferation and apoptosis. Methods: The tumors belonged to previously untreated patients. Of 53 studied specimens, 41 were in surgical stage I and 12 in stage II. The histologies were as follows: 45 ductal infiltrating, 5 lobular infiltrating, 1 papillary, 1 mucinous and 1 granulosa cell tumor. By means of immuno-flow-cytometry we studied the expression of the angiogenesisassociated VEGF gene and the apoptosis-associated Bax gene. By means of immunohistochemistry we studied the expression of hormone receptors (ER & PR), p53, c-erb-B2 and the proliferation-associated marker Ki67. Proliferation was further assessed by means of flow-cytometry (DNA-ploidy and S-phase). Standard clinical and pathological features such as tumor size, axillary nodal invasion, histological and nuclear grade were also included into the statistical analysis. Results: The time to peak of contrast uptake, which determines the elapsed time between the moment the contrast uptake begins and maximal signal enhancement was inversely and significantly related to the expression of VEGF by the tumors (p = 0.04), i.e., the longer it took for the contrast to be absorbed, the less activated was the angiogenic pathway mediated by VEGF. In agreement with this, the wash-in rate of contrast into the tumors, which determines the maximal speed with which it is absorbed by them, was also significantly related to the expression of VEGF (p = 0.05), Bax (p = 0.04) and Ki67 (p = 0.03). Conclusion: Data provided by dynamic MRI of breast cancer are able to predict molecular features of the tumors characteristic of oncogenic activation such as angiogenesis, proliferation and apoptosis.