Data from: The clinical significance and molecular features of the spatial tumor shapes in breast cancers

Each breast cancer has its unique spatial shape, but the clinical
importance and the underlying mechanism for the three-dimensional tumor
shapes are mostly unknown. We collected the data on the three-dimensional
tumor size and tumor volume data of invasive breast cancers from 2,250
patients who underwent surgery between Jan 2000 and Jul 2007. The degree
of tumor eccentricity was estimated by using the difference between the
spheroid tumor volume and ellipsoid tumor volume (spheroid-ellipsoid
discrepancy, SED). In 41 patients, transcriptome and exome sequencing data
obtained. Estimation of more accurate tumor burden by calculating
ellipsoid tumor volumes did not improve the outcome prediction when
compared to the traditional longest diameter measurement. However, the
spatial tumor eccentricity, which was measured by SED, showed significant
variation between the molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Additionally,
the degree of tumor eccentricity was associated with well-known prognostic
factors of breast cancer such as tumor size and lymph node metastasis.
Transcriptome data from 41 patients showed significant association between
MMP13 and spatial tumor shapes. Network analysis and analysis of TCGA gene
expression data suggest that MMP13 is regulated by ERBB2 and S100A7A. The
present study validates the usefulness of the current tumor size method in
determining tumor stages. Furthermore, we show that the tumors with high
eccentricity are more likely to have aggressive tumor characteristics.
Genes involved in the extracellular matrix remodeling can be candidate
regulators of the spatial tumor shapes in breast cancer.