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Estradiol (E2), a follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), AMH, and inhibin B levels, along with AFC and MOV, are used to determine ovarian reserve in pre-menopausal women. Studies have shown that AMH levels are more sensitive than those of E2, FSH, and inhibin B and that AFC and MOV can be used to evaluate ovarian reserve. AMH, AFC, and MOV measurements were performed before and after adjuvant SC in 3-month periods for one year. Patients were classified as experiencing chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea (CIA) if they did not have menstrual cycles for a period of six months or longer following the conclusion of their chemotherapy treatment. We aimed to evaluate the factors affecting chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and the performance of baseline measurements of AMH, AFC, and MOV to predict chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea. The effects of different chemotherapy regimens on the AMH level, AFC, and MOV in CIA patients were investigated. Seventy-one patients were eligible for this study, and the median age was 38 years (range: 23–45). The median follow-up was 37 months (range: 20–51), and CIA developed in 62% of the patients. The AMH level and AFC were significantly decreased one year after SC (p < 0.0001), whereas MOV was not (p = 0.507). AMH levels before chemotherapy (median: 1.520 vs. 0.755, p = 0.001) and at the end of the first year (median: 0.073 vs. 0.010, p = 0.030) and pre-treatment AFC (median: 12 vs. 4.50, p = 0.026) were lower in patients with CIA compared to those without CIA. The AMH levels before SC were the most valuable and earliest factor for predicting CIA development. In addition, there was no difference between the chemotherapy regimens (including or not including taxane) in terms of CIA development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is debated as benefits are inconstant. Molecular signatures for DCIS have been developed to stratify the risk of local recurrence (LR) and therefore guide the decision of RT. Objective: To evaluate, in women with DCIS treated by BCS, the impact of adjuvant RT on LR according to the molecular signature risk stratification. Methodology: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of five articles including women with DCIS treated by BCS and with a molecular assay performed to stratify the risk, comparing the effect of BCS and RT versus BCS alone on LR including ipsilateral invasive (InvBE) and total breast events (TotBE). Results: The meta-analysis included 3478 women and evaluated two molecular signatures: Oncotype Dx DCIS (prognostic of LR), and DCISionRT (prognostic of LR and predictive of RT benefit). For DCISionRT, in the high-risk group, the pooled hazard ratio of BCS + RT versus BCS was 0.39 (95%CI 0.20–0.77) for InvBE and 0.34 (95%CI 0.22–0.52) for TotBE. In the low-risk group, the pooled hazard ratio of BCS + RT versus BCS was significant for TotBE at 0.62 (95%CI 0.39–0.99); however, it was not significant for InvBE (HR = 0.58 (95%CI 0.25–1.32)), Discussion: Molecular signatures are able to discriminate high- and low-risk women, high-risk ones having a significant benefit of RT in the reduction of invasive and in situ local recurrences, while in low-risk ones RT did not have a benefit for preventing invasive breast recurrence. The risk prediction of molecular signatures is independent of other risk stratification tools developed in DCIS, and have a tendency toward RT de-escalation. Further studies are needed to assess the impact on mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IGFBP5 is an important regulatory protein in breast cancer progression. We tried to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between breast tumor tissues with IGFBP5 overexpression and their adjacent normal tissues. In this study, thirty-eight breast cancer and adjacent normal breast tissue samples were used to determine IGFBP5 expression by qPCR. cDNA microarrays were applied to the highest IGFBP5 overexpressed tumor samples compared to their adjacent normal breast tissue. Microarray analysis revealed that a total of 186 genes were differentially expressed in breast cancer compared with normal breast tissues. Of the 186 genes, 169 genes were downregulated and 17 genes were upregulated in the tumor samples. KEGG pathway analyses showed that protein digestion and absorption, focal adhesion, salivary secretion, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450, and phenylalanine metabolism pathways are involved. Among these DEGs, the prominent top two genes (MMP11 and COL1A1) which potentially correlated with IGFBP5 were selected for validation using real time RT-qPCR. Only COL1A1 expression showed a consistent upregulation with IGFBP5 expression and COL1A1 and MMP11 were significantly positively correlated. We concluded that the discovery of coordinately expressed genes related with IGFBP5 might contribute to understanding of the molecular mechanism of the function of IGFBP5 in breast cancer. Further functional studies on DEGs and association with IGFBP5 may identify novel biomarkers for clinical applications in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]