Breast Cancer

The latest articles from Breast Cancer Research (ISSN 1465-5411) published by BioMed Central

Total news: 10
Last news: November 30, 1999 00:00:00

Breast Cancer Treatment Articles, News, and Views

Total news: 14
Last news: December 22, 2006 20:57:00

Women with high levels of vitamin D have better resistance to breast cancer, say researchers. British study has shown those with advanced breast cancer had lower levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream than those in the early stages of the disease. Researchers at Imperial College London claim this is evidence that the vitamin, which principally comes from sunlight, may protect against cancer. They are planning to investigate whether taking supplements to keep vitamin D levels high could fight the disease. . - [Read more]

Ashwagandha - Stress Reduction, Neural Protection, and a Lot More from an Ancient HerbBy Dale KieferAshwagandha, an exotic Indian herb, has remarkable stress-relieving properties comparable to those of powerful drugs used to treat depression and anxiety. In addition to its excellent protective effects on the nervous system, ashwagandha may be a promising alternative treatment for a variety of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Ashwagandha has powerful antioxidant properties that seek and destroy the free radicals that have been implicated in aging and numerous disease states. Even more remarkable, emerging evidence suggests that ashwagandha has anti-cancer benefits as well. . - [Read more]

Tamoxifen (sold in the US as Nolvadex®) is a useful drug. It can reduce the chance of developing breast cancer in women who are at high risk of that disease, and can also diminish the chance of recurrence in some patients who have been successfully treated for breast cancer. Unfortunately, tamoxifen also has some serious side effects, the most significant of which are an increased risk of thrombosis (blood clots) and a heightened chance of a particularly aggressive form of uterine cancer. Scientists have therefore been looking for similar drugs that would have the benefits of tamoxifen but with fewer dangerous side effects. . - [Read more]

WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Breast cancer is not just a woman's disease. Inspired by one man's story of survival, Men's Health Network, the leading online men's health authority, has launched an educational campaign daring men to be aware of their risk for breast cancer. Launched in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dare to Be Aware: Men and Breast Cancer helps break through the often fatal barriers that can prevent men from getting early diagnosis and treatment.. - [Read more]

Vitamin E compound fights breast cancer spread A report published in the October, 2006 issue of the journal Cancer Research (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/) described the finding of researchers at the University of Arizona that a modified form of vitamin E significantly reduced the metastasis of mammary cancer in mice. The study is the first to demonstrate that the compound has a strong anticancer property when administered as a dietary supplement. . - [Read more]

Review affirms evidence for protective effect of vitamin D and calcium against breast cancer A review published in the August, 2006 issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/) concluded that despite inconsistent results from some epidemiologic studies, a number of other studies suggest that vitamin D and calcium play a role in breast cancer prevention.. - [Read more]

Mary Olsen Kelly is a breast cancer survivor herself and spent nearly four years researching this topic for her new project, Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor’s Soul: Stories to Inspire, Support and Heal (October 2006). In the familiar spirit of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this original, witty, and inspiring self-help book for breast cancer survivors, tackles the “big issues and challenges” of living with cancer. The author calls it a breast cancer support group between two covers.. - [Read more]

Breast cancer is one of the chronic disease which is more found in women. It can be cured with no side effects by the intake of the alternative medications which does not harm your body at all. . - [Read more]

We hear it all the time?lose weight for your health. Few people however, realize the extent to which this is critical to their physical well-being and ultimately their life expectancy. In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured a study finding that obesity appears to lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults. The researchers compared Body-Mass Index (BMI) to longevity and found a correlation between premature death and higher BMIs. For example, a 20-year-old white male, 510" weighing 288 pounds with a BMI of greater than 40 was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity.Jamie McManus, M.D., F.A.A.F.P. and author of "Your Personal Guide to Wellness" notes that while this study referenced extreme levels of obesity, there are still millions of overweight people in developed countries with a life expectancy rate that is three to five years less than their healthy-weight counterparts. She also estimates that there are 600,000 obesity related deaths each year in America.. - [Read more]

"We were surprised," said Dr. Zheng Cui, a co-investigator of the new finding that appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The powerful resistance was transferred through the animals white blood cells," which are immune system cells. Cui, Dr. Mark Willingham and colleagues found that the animals innate immune system turns on to protect against cancer or to kill cancer that already exists. . - [Read more]

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Evry month ca n be a prevention month if you follow these tips.Men and women can take preventative steps for avoiding breast cancer and staying healthy.. - [Read more]

Two articles in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reveal the risk of being exposed to light during the nighttime. . - [Read more]

What is the relationship of alcohol to cancer, and especially to breast cancer?. - [Read more]

One of the most hotly debated topics in cancer currently is the question of whether antioxidants are capable of lessening the side effects and possibly improving the results of conventional cancer treatments. A recent article from the US National Cancer Institute(NCI) concluded.... - [Read more]

IntroductionAbout 70% of breast cancers express the estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1/ER?) and are estrogen-dependent for growth. In contrast with the highly proliferative nature of ER?-positive tumour cells, ER?-positive cells in normal breast tissue rarely proliferate. Since ER? expression is rapidly lost when normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMECS) are grown in vitro, breast cancer models derived from HMECs are ER?-negative. Currently only tumour cell lines are available to model ER?-positive disease. To create an ER?-positive breast cancer model, we have forced normal human mammary epithelial cells derived from reduction mammoplasty tissue to express ER? in combination with other relevant breast cancer genes. Methods: Candidate genes were chosen based on the analysis of breast cancer gene expression data and cloned into lentiviral vectors. Primary HMECs were prepared from reduction mammoplasty tissue and infected with lentiviral particles. After selection, infected HMECS were characterised by western blotting, immunofluorescence microscopy, microarray analysis, growth curves, karyotyping and SNP chip analysis. The tumorigenicity of the modified HMECs was tested after orthotopic injection into the inguinal mammary glands of NOD/SCID mice. The cells were marked with a fluorescent protein to allow visualisation in the fat pad. The growth of the graft was analysed by fluorescence microscopy of the mammary glands and pathological analysis of stained tissue sections. Estrogen dependence of tumour growth was assessed by treatment with the estrogen antagonist fulvestrant. Results: Microarray analysis of ER?-positive tumours reveals that they commonly over-express the polycomb gene BMI1. Lentiviral transduction with ER?, BMI1, TERT and MYC allows primary HMECs to be expanded in vitro in an estrogen-dependent manner. Orthotopic xenografting of these cells into the mammary glands of NOD/SCID mice results in the formation of ER?-positive tumours that metastasise to multiple organs. The cells remain wild type for p53, diploid and genetically stable. In vivo tumour growth and in vitro proliferation of cells explanted from tumours are dependent on estrogen. Conclusion: We have created a genetically-defined model of ER?-positive human breast cancer based on normal HMECS that has the potential to model human estrogen-dependent breast cancer in a mouse and enables the study of mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis and metastasis. - [Read more]

Background: Aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole and letrozole are highly effective suppressants of estrogen synthesis in postmenopausal women and the most effective endocrine treatment for hormone receptor positive breast cancer in such women. Little is known of the molecular effects of these agents on human breast carcinomas in vivo. Methods: We randomized primary estrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients to treatment with anastrozole or letrozole for 2 weeks prior to surgery. Expression profiling using cDNA arrays was conducted on pretreatment and post-treatment biopsies. Sample pairs from 34 patients provided sufficient RNA for analysis. Results: Profound changes in gene expression were seen with both aromatase inhinitors including many classical estrogen-dependent genes such as TFF1, CCND1, PDZK1 and AGR2 but also many other genes that are likely to represent secondary responses: decrease in the expression of proliferation-related genes were particularly prominent. Many up-regulated genes are involved in extracellular matrix remodelling including collagens and members of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP) family (LUM, DCN, ASPN). No significant differences were seen between letrozole and anastrozole in their molecular effects. The gene changes were integrated into a global index of dependence on estrogen (GIDE) which enumerates the genes changing by at least 2-fold with therapy. The GIDE varied markedly between tumours and related significantly to pre-treatment levels of HER2 and changes in immunohistochemically detected Ki67. Conclusions: Our results identify the transcriptional signatures associated with aromatase inhibitor treatment of primary breast tumours. Larger datasets using this approach should enable the identification of estrogen-dependent molecular changes, which are the determinants of benefit or resistance to endocrine therapy. - [Read more]

IntroductionEstrogen is important in the development of breast cancer, and its biological effects are mediated primarily through the two estrogen receptors alpha and beta. A point mutation in the estrogen receptor alpha gene, ESR1, referred to as A908G or K303R, was originally identified in breast hyperplasias and was reported to be hypersensitive to estrogen. We recently detected this mutation at a low frequency of 6% in invasive breast tumors of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS) Methods: In this report, we evaluated risk factors for invasive breast cancer classified according to the presence or absence of the ESR1 A908G mutation in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among younger and older white and African-American women in North Carolina. Of the 653 breast tumors evaluated, 37 were ESR1 A908G mutation-positive, and 616 were mutation-negative. Results: ESR1 A908G mutation-positive breast cancer was significantly associated with a first degree family history of breast cancer (OR=2.69; 1.15-6.28), while mutation-negative breast cancer was not. Comparison of the two case subgroups supported this finding (OR=2.65; 95% CI=1.15-6.09). There was also the suggestion that longer duration of oral contraceptive (OC) use (OR=3.73; 95% CI=1.16-12.03, Ptrend=0.02 for use of >10 years) and recent use of OCs (3.63; 95% CI=0.80-16.45, Ptrend=0.10 for use within 10 years) were associated with ESR1 A908G mutation-positive breast cancer, however, ORs for comparison of the two case subgroups were not statistically significant. Hormone replacement therapy use was inversely correlated with mutation-negative breast cancer, but the effect on mutation-positive cancer was unclear due to the small number of postmenopausal cases whose tumors carried the mutation. Mutation-negative breast cancer was associated with several reproductive factors, including younger age at menarche (OR=1.46; 95% CI=1.09-1.94) and greater total estimated years of ovarian function (OR=1.82; 95% CI=1.21-2.74). Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that OCs may interact with the ESR1 A908G mutant receptor to drive the development of some breast cancers. - [Read more]

HER-2/neu status of the primary breast cancer (PBC) is determined by immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization. Because of a variety of technical factors, however, the PBC may not accurately reflect the metastatic tumor in terms of HER-2/neu status. Recently published guidelines recommend that tumors be defined as HER-2/neu positive if 30% or more of the cells are 3+. Circulating levels of the HER-2 extracellular domain can be measured in serum using a test cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, and increased serum HER-2/neu levels to above 15 ng/ml can reflect tumor progression. Studies comparing tissue HER-2/neu status of the PBC and HER-2/neu levels above 15 ng/ml in metastatic breast cancer patients are also reviewed. - [Read more]

Delayed recurrences, common in breast cancer, are well explained by the concept of tumour dormancy. Numerous publications describe clinical times to disease recurrence or death, using mathematical approaches to infer mechanisms responsible for delayed recurrences. However, most of the clinical literature discussing tumour dormancy uses data from over a half century ago and much has since changed. This review explores how current breast cancer treatment could change our understanding of the biology of breast cancer tumour dormancy, and summarizes relevant experimental models to date. Current knowledge gaps are highlighted and potential areas of future research are identified. - [Read more]

Background: Ki-67 expression is a possible risk biomarker and is currently being used as a response biomarker in chemoprevention trials. Mammographic breast density is a risk biomarker and is also being used as a response biomarker. We have previously shown that Ki-67 expression is higher in specimens of benign breast cells exhibiting cytologic atypia that are obtained by random periareolar fine needle aspiration (RPFNA). It is not known whether there is a correlation between mammographic density and Ki-67 expression in benign breast ductal cells obtained by RPFNA. Methods: 344 women at high risk of developing breast cancer (based on personal or family history) seen at The University of Kansas Medical Center high risk breast clinic, who underwent RPFNA with cytomorphology and Ki-67 assessment, plus a mammogram were included in the study. Mammographic breast density was assessed using the Cumulus program. Categorical variables were analyzed by Chi-square test and continuous variables were analyzed by non-parametric test and linear regression. Results: 47% of women were premenopausal and 53% were postmenopausal. Median age was 48 years, median 5 year Gail Risk was 2.2%, and median Ki-67 was 1.9%. Median mammographic breast density was 37%. Ki-67 expression increased with cytologic abnormality (atypia vs. no atypia, p=<0.001) and younger age (< 50 vs > 50, p=<0.001). Mammographic density was higher in pre-menopausal women (p=<0.001), those with lower BMI (p< 0.001), and lower 5-year Gail risk (p=0.001); Mammographic density showed no correlation with Ki-67 expression or cytomorphology. Conclusion: Given the lack of correlation of mammographic breast density with either cytomorphology or Ki-67 expression in RPFNA specimens, mammographic density and Ki-67 expression should be considered as potentially complementary response biomarkers for breast cancer chemoprevention trials. - [Read more]