Metabolic Changes in Maternal and Cord Blood in One Case of Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer Seen by Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is a rare disease, which is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage due to limitations in current diagnostic methods. In this study, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) was used to study the metabolic changes by measuring maternal blood and umbilical cord blood via the autofluorescence of coenzymes, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). The NAD(P)H data showed that a PABC case had significant differences compared with normal cases, which may indicate increased glycolysis. The FAD data showed that both maternal and cord blood of PABC had shorter mean lifetimes and higher bound-FAD ratios. The significant differences suggested that FLIM testing of blood samples may be a potential method to assist in PABC non-radiative screening.