ArticlePloS one2014
Evidence that breast tissue stiffness is associated with risk of breast cancer.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 149 citations in OpenAlex.
- Low-dose tamoxifen treatment reduces collagen organisation indicative of tissue stiffness in the normal breast: results from the KARISMA randomised controlled trial.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2024Trial
- Stiff stroma increases breast cancer risk by inducing the oncogene ZNF217.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2020Trial
- Compact breast parenchyma: imaging and transcriptomic correlates.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Ferrofluid microrobot driven by an adjustable magnetic tweezer for soft tissue mechanical measurement.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- A ducted, biomimetic nipple replicates breastfeeding mechanics through ontogeny in an infant animal model.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Fluid flow and feeding performance in infant mammals: evaluating the impact of nipple design.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- A microfluidic rheometer for tumor mechanics and invasion studies.Lab on a chip · 2025Article
- Substrate Stiffness Modulates Fibroblast Extracellular Vesicle Secretion Via Mechanotransduction Pathways.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- A microfluidic rheometer for tumor mechanics and invasion studies.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Wireless, wearable elastography via mechano-acoustic wave sensing for ambulatory monitoring of tissue stiffness.Science advances · 2025Article
- In utero exposure to estrogenic bisphenol analogues increases mammary tissue stiffness.Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Probing the physical hallmarks of cancer.Nature methods · 2025Review
- Fibronectin Fibers Progressively Lose Their Tension in Invasive Human Breast Carcinoma while Being Tensed in DCIS and Healthy Breast Tissue.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- A Ducted, Biomimetic Nipple Improves Aspects of Infant Feeding Physiology and Performance in an Animal Model.Dysphagia · 2025Article
- Review
- Multi-center strain elastography radiomics for breast cancer diagnosis: integrating intratumoral and peritumoral regions.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- The mechanopathology of the tumor microenvironment: detection techniques, molecular mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Construction of multi-component finite element model to predict biomechanical behaviour of breasts during running and quantification of the stiffness impact of internal structure.Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Tumor Biomechanics Alters Metastatic Dissemination of Triple Negative Breast Cancer via Rewiring Fatty Acid Metabolism.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEvidence from animal models shows that tissue stiffness increases the invasion and progression of cancers, including mammary cancer. We here use measurements of the volume and the projected area of the compressed breast during mammography to derive estimates of breast tissue stiffness and examine the relationship of stiffness to risk of breast cancer.
methodsMammograms were used to measure the volume and projected areas of total and radiologically dense breast tissue in the unaffected breasts of 362 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer (cases) and 656 women of the same age who did not have breast cancer (controls). Measures of breast tissue volume and the projected area of the compressed breast during mammography were used to calculate the deformation of the breast during compression and, with the recorded compression force, to estimate the stiffness of breast tissue. Stiffness was compared in cases and controls, and associations with breast cancer risk examined after adjustment for other risk factors.
resultsAfter adjustment for percent mammographic density by area measurements, and other risk factors, our estimate of breast tissue stiffness was significantly associated with breast cancer (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval = 1.03, 1.43, p = 0.02) and improved breast cancer risk prediction in models with percent mammographic density, by both area and volume measurements.
conclusionAn estimate of breast tissue stiffness was associated with breast cancer risk and improved risk prediction based on mammographic measures and other risk factors. Stiffness may provide an additional mechanism by which breast tissue composition is associated with risk of breast cancer and merits examination using more direct methods of measurement.
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