InSyBio is pleased to announce the publication of a new scientific study titled “Intratumoral collagen correlates with histological grade and patient prognosis in breast cancer” in Experimental and Molecular Pathology.
Breast cancer development and clinical progression are influenced not only by cancer cells but also by the surrounding tumor microenvironment. The extracellular matrix, and collagen in particular, contributes to the structural and biological organization of tumor tissue and may affect cancer-cell behaviour, immune responses and disease progression.
Despite its important role in tumor biology, the relationship between collagen abundance, histological grade and clinical outcome remains complex. This study therefore examined whether intratumoral collagen deposition and collagen-related molecular patterns differ between breast tumors of different grades and whether they can provide complementary prognostic information.
By integrating tissue-level observations with proteomic and transcriptomic data, the study evaluated whether the identified collagen patterns could be reproduced across different biological layers and independent patient populations.
Key Findings
The histological analysis showed that low-grade breast tumors contained significantly higher levels of intratumoral collagen than high-grade tumors.
This observation was independently supported by the computational analyses. Collagen-associated extracellular-matrix signatures and related molecular processes were more strongly represented in Grade I tumors than in tumors with higher histological grades.
The findings suggest that the loss or extensive reorganization of collagen-rich extracellular-matrix structures may accompany the transition toward more aggressive and poorly differentiated breast cancer phenotypes.
Potential Prognostic Value in Grade II Breast Cancer
One of the most important findings concerned histological Grade II breast cancer, a clinically heterogeneous group that can include tumors with substantially different biological behaviours and patient outcomes. Transcriptomic collagen expression patterns enabled the stratification of Grade II cases into distinct patient groups. Higher collagen-related expression was associated with more favourable clinicopathological characteristics and improved survival outcomes.
These results suggest that collagen-related information may help complement conventional histological grading, particularly for patients whose tumors fall within the intermediate Grade II category.
InSyBio’s Contribution
The multidisciplinary research brought together expertise in pathology, cancer biology, proteomics, transcriptomics, statistics and computational biology. Harry Zaverdas, Konstantinos Theofilatos and Seferina Mavroudi contributed to the computational and bioinformatics components of the study as part of the wider research team.
This work demonstrates how computational analysis and multi-omics data integration can complement traditional pathology, strengthen biological findings and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of cancer heterogeneity.
You can find the publication here! DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yexmp.2026.105066