Relationship between δ-catenin expression and whole-brain small-world network in breast cancer patients before chemotherapy

Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between δ-catenin expression and whole-brain small-world network in breast cancer patients before chemotherapy using rs-fMRI. The study was based on the hypothesis that different δ-catenin expression levels correspond to distinct brain imaging characteristics. A total of 105 pathologically confirmed breast cancer patients were collected and categorized into high δ-catenin expression (DH, 52 cases) and low expression (DL, 53 cases) groups. Additionally, 36 age-matched healthy women were enrolled as a healthy control group (HC). The results demonstrated differences in several network topology attributes among the three groups. Furthermore, in addition to differences in nodal efficiency, betweenness, and degree centrality metrics observed between the patient groups and HCs across multiple brain regions, significant alterations were also identified between the DL and DH groups, particularly in the supramarginal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus. Correlation analysis revealed associations between cognitive and memory-related brain regions, such as the caudate nucleus and frontal lobe, and scores on cognitive and verbal memory scales (all P < 0.05). This study concludes that high and low expression levels of δ-catenin in breast cancer patients are associated with distinct whole-brain network topology patterns, and that these differences in network segregation and integration functions are associated with alterations in cognition and verbal memory.