The association between tumor-stromal collagen features and the clinical outcomes of patients with breast cancer: a systematic review

Table 5 Association of collagen features of invasive breast tumors with overall stage

Association	Collagen Feature	p-value	Comparison		Reference
Positive Association with Overall Stage	Intratumoral Collagen Uniformity	p = 0.004	III > I-II		[43]
Positive Association with Overall Stage	Collagen Content	p = 0.005	II-IV > 0-I		[47]
No Association with Overall Stage	Total Collagen Deposition Local Collagen Density Local Collagen Alignment TACS-3 TACS-2 + TACS-3	NS		NS	[44]
	Ln F/B	NS		NS	[44]
	Collagen SHG Area Fraction Angular Anisotropy	NS		NS	[57]

Definitions: Intratumoral Collagen Uniformity: (Higher values indicate fibers are more closely packed and evenly distributed). F/B: (Higher value indicates larger fibril diameter, increased order in interfibrillar packing, and decreased fiber segmentation). Collagen SHG Area Fraction (Higher values indicate a greater collagen content within the tissue). Angular Anisotropy (Higher values indicate collagen fibers are more aligned)
NS Not Significant, TACS Tumor-associated collagen signature, Ln F/B Natural logarithm of the Forward-to-Backward ratio, SHG Second Harmonic Generation

ISSN: 1465-542X