Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25250186›Full record

ArticleJournal of pathology informatics2014

Automated quantification of aligned collagen for human breast carcinoma prognosis.

Jeremy S Bredfeldt, Yuming Liu, Matthew W Conklin, Patricia J Keely, Thomas R Mackie, Kevin W Eliceiri

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of pathology informatics, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 150 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
150citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
18.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

150 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 221 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The clinical usefulness of optical coherence tomography during cancer interventions.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2018
    Pooled it
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  15. Relaxin-2 drives regenerative healing and suppresses scar formation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
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  17. Targeted silencing of Engrailed-1 reprograms profibrotic fibroblast lineage for scarless wound healing.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2025
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  20. Polychromatic Polarization Microscopy Differentiates Collagen Fiber Signatures in Benign Pancreatic Tissue and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2025
    Article

90 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Jeremy S BredfeldtLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715, USA.
Yuming LiuLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA.
Matthew W ConklinLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Laboratory for Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Patricia J KeelyLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Laboratory for Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Thomas R MackieLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715, USA.
Kevin W EliceiriLaboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715, USA ; Laboratory for Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Optica · USUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison · USMorgridge Institute for Research · US

Funding

U.W. RADIOLOGICAL SCIENCES TRAINING PROGRAMT32CA009206 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Bryan Patrick Bednarz · 1985 to 2026
$12.1M
Development of The Prairie Technologies MPLSM to image cancer models in vivoR01CA136590 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI CAMPAGNOLA, PAUL J, KEELY, PATRICIA J · 2009 to 2013
$2.4M
Biophysical Regulation of Breast DifferentiationR01CA114462 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI KEELY, PATRICIA J · 2010 to 2014
$1.5M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA114462NCI NIH HHS R01 CA136590NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009206
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMortality in cancer patients is directly attributable to the ability of cancer cells to metastasize to distant sites from the primary tumor. This migration of tumor cells begins with a remodeling of the local tumor microenvironment, including changes to the extracellular matrix and the recruitment of stromal cells, both of which facilitate invasion of tumor cells into the bloodstream. In breast cancer, it has been proposed that the alignment of collagen fibers surrounding tumor epithelial cells can serve as a quantitative image-based biomarker for survival of invasive ductal carcinoma patients. Specific types of collagen alignment have been identified for their prognostic value and now these tumor associated collagen signatures (TACS) are central to several clinical specimen imaging trials. Here, we implement the semi-automated acquisition and analysis of this TACS candidate biomarker and demonstrate a protocol that will allow consistent scoring to be performed throughout large patient cohorts.

methodsUsing large field of view high resolution microscopy techniques, image processing and supervised learning methods, we are able to quantify and score features of collagen fiber alignment with respect to adjacent tumor-stromal boundaries.

resultsOur semi-automated technique produced scores that have statistically significant correlation with scores generated by a panel of three human observers. In addition, our system generated classification scores that accurately predicted survival in a cohort of 196 breast cancer patients. Feature rank analysis reveals that TACS positive fibers are more well-aligned with each other, are of generally lower density, and terminate within or near groups of epithelial cells at larger angles of interaction.

conclusionThese results demonstrate the utility of a supervised learning protocol for streamlining the analysis of collagen alignment with respect to tumor stromal boundaries.

Indexed as

Breast cancercollagenimage processingmachine learning

Identifiers

PMID25250186
PMCPMC4168643
OpenAlexW2035108753

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.