Abstract

Introduction

Cancer and chemotherapy are correlated with brain functional and structural changes in cancer patients, which may lead to cognitive dysfunction. However, little is known about the structural abnormalities of brain in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to explore the topological properties within the brain white matter network of NSCLC patients prior to chemotherapy.

Methods

To explore the neurobiological biomarkers of NSCLC, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were acquired in 24 non-nervous system metastatic NSCLC patients and 25 matched healthy controls. The topological properties of the brain structural networks of NSCLC were measured by the parameters of local and global efficiency.

Results

Treatment-naïve NSCLC patients showed cognitive and emotional deficits. In addition, NSCLC patients also exhibited decreased global efficacy in the left inferior frontal gyrus (triangular part), left inferior frontal gyrus (orbital part), right rolandic operculum, right gyrus rectus, right lenticular nucleus (putamen), left superior temporal gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus. Decreased local efficacy were found in the left middle frontal gyrus (orbital part) and left superior temporal gyrus in NSCLC patients. Moreover, the aberrant brain regions were associated with the impaired cognitiion and emotion of NSCLC patients.

Conclusion

Overall our results suggested that altered local and global efficiency of brain white matter network were associated with cancer-induced cognitive and emotional deficits of NSCLC patients. These findings demonstrated that disrupted topological characteristics of the brain network might underlie the impaired cognition and emotion in NSCLC.

中文翻译：

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脑白质网络的异常拓扑特征与非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者化疗前的认知和情绪缺陷有关

摘要

介绍

癌症和化疗与癌症患者的大脑功能和结构变化相关，这可能导致认知功能障碍。然而，对于非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者的脑结构异常知之甚少。本研究的目的是探索 NSCLC 患者化疗前脑白质网络内的拓扑特性。

方法

为了探索 NSCLC 的神经生物学生物标志物，我们在 24 名非神经系统转移性 NSCLC 患者和 25 名匹配的健康对照中获得了脑磁共振成像 (MRI) 数据。通过局部和全局效率参数测量NSCLC脑结构网络的拓扑特性。

结果

初治非小细胞肺癌患者表现出认知和情绪缺陷。此外，非小细胞肺癌患者在左侧额下回（三角形部分）、左侧额下回（眶部）、右侧罗兰岛盖、右侧直回、右侧豆状核（壳核）、左侧颞上回和右侧颞下回。在 NSCLC 患者的左侧额中回（眶部）和左侧颞上回发现局部疗效降低。此外，异常的大脑区域与非小细胞肺癌患者的认知和情绪受损有关。

结论

总体而言，我们的结果表明，脑白质网络的局部和全局效率改变与癌症引起的 NSCLC 患者的认知和情绪缺陷有关。这些发现表明，大脑网络的拓扑特征被破坏可能是 NSCLC 认知和情绪受损的基础。