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Breast cancer is a common and potentially lethal disease with few options available for prevention1. The most effective intervention is prophylactic mastectomy; however, only high-risk individuals opt to undergo this procedure as it is a surgery with major life-changing consequences2. The procedure completely removes the mammary epithelial cells from which breast cancer arises along with the surrounding tissue. This can result in physical, psychological, and social stress for the individual, and often dissuades individuals from proceeding with this surgical procedure as their first line of primary intervention.
We have demonstrated that delivery of an ablative solution containing 70% ethanol (EtOH) directly into the ductal tree is effective at killing mammary epithelial cells with limited collateral tissue damage and at preventing breast tumors in mouse models3. EtOH has been long used clinically as an ablative or sclerosing agent for local treatment. Percutaneous EtOH injection is used as an ablative agent for unresectable liver tumors, renal and adrenal neoplasms, and pancreatic cystic tumors4,5,6; for celiac plexus neurolysis to reduce pain7; and for treating breast pseudoaneurysms8. Intravascular EtOH injection is used as a sclerosing agent to eliminate swelling and deformation from arteriovenous malformations (AVM), and for cosmetic treatment of spider veins and varicose veins9,10,11,12,13. Like prophylactic mastectomy, the success of prevention with local delivery of an ablative solution hinges on the ability to completely remove all mammary epithelial cells from which cancer could potentially arise. This requires confirmation that the ablative substance has successfully filled the ductal tree, thus contacting all mammary epithelial cells directly. Clinical means for injecting substances within the mammary glands and visualizing them by image-guided fluoroscopy or ductography are readily available14,15; therefore, it will be possible to both deliver and confirm successful delivery when this procedure may warrant evaluation in clinical trials.
Demonstrating the feasibility of this image-guided approach in laboratory animals is a key step in establishing the efficacy and translational feasibility of intraductal (ID) ablation as a preventative measure for breast cancer. In our laboratory, we have developed a method to successfully inject all mammary glands in mice with an ablative solution containing a contrast agent over a course of weekly injections to ensure the animal does not succumb to an overdose of EtOH (Figure 1, Figure 2, reference nos.3,16). This procedure places a 34 G needle inside the nipple opening of an isoflurane-anesthetized mouse to inject the test solution. Some key improvements of the procedure include the use of gastight syringes for liquid and gases, injection of higher volumes per ductal trees17, and extended anti-inflammatory treatment. The preclinical treatment of 5 mg/kg of carprofen, an NSAID, from 2 d before to 7 d after the ID procedure is in line with that of clinical sclerosing therapy for AVM. Typically, after systemic anesthesia, the patients receive anti-inflammatory medications, such as NSAIDs, for 2 days post-procedure that can be extended to mitigate any local inflammation or pain12. Alcohol intoxication is significantly mitigated by intraperitoneal injection of a 5% sucrose solution in mice. With administration of this sucrose solution, mice can be safely injected with up to 160 μL of 70% EtOH (up to four ductal trees; about 0.4 g/dL of EtOH content in blood); animals fully recovered within 4 h after ID injections. For injection of more than four glands in mice and/or higher EtOH concentrations, we perform sequential sessions to allow enough recovery time. Alcohol intoxication in women would be a lesser concern due to the lower proportion of alcohol amount to body weight. Given the number of ductal trees in human breast14,15, about 16, and estimated volume to fill each tree duct18,19, up to 32 mL of 70% EtOH will be administered. This quantity will be much lower than the 50 mL of 95% EtOH administered in other clinical procedures4,9. Intravenous administration of thiamine and glucose solution could be used to further minimize effects of EtOH intoxication, especially in cases where a larger total volume of EtOH may need to be injected and/or for women who have a lower tolerance to alcohol consumption (e.g., allelic variants in alcohol or aldehyde dehydrogenases).
Imaging via micro-CT/fluoroscopy allows us to confirm successful ductal filling of each gland (Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). This can be recorded for future analysis, or assessed in the moment via real-time fluoroscopy imaging, as would be done in clinical application, to limit overall radiation burden imposed on the animal. To further improve specific features of this ablative solution for real time image-guided delivery in vivo, we previously compared FDA-approved iodine-containing contrast to a tantalum oxide (TaOx)-containing nanoparticle synthesized by the Shapiro lab3,16. TaOx showed superior performance as a micro-CT contrast agent for visualizing the initial filling of the ductal tree (Figure 2, Figure 3). TaOx can be used as a reference contrast to perform a more systematic and longitudinal assessment of other nanoparticle-based blood pool contrast agents (e.g., iodine-, bismuth-, or gold-containing) and compatibility of TaOx with different concentrations of ethyl cellulose as gelling agent20,21.