1. Differential Expression of Cancer-Related Proteins in Paired Breast Milk Samples from Women with Breast Cancer
- Author
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Wenyi Qin, Edward R. Sauter, Eva P. Browne, Ke Zhang, Kathleen F. Arcaro, and Douglas L. Anderton
- Subjects
Adult ,Oncology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Basic fibroblast growth factor ,Breast Neoplasms ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,Breast milk ,Lipocalin ,Risk Assessment ,Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ,Transforming Growth Factor beta2 ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Breast cancer ,Adipokines ,Lipocalin-2 ,Lectins ,Proto-Oncogene Proteins ,Internal medicine ,Lactation ,Biomarkers, Tumor ,Carcinoma ,Humans ,Medicine ,Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1 ,Milk, Human ,business.industry ,Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ,Case-control study ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Cancer ,medicine.disease ,Lipocalins ,Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,chemistry ,Case-Control Studies ,Female ,Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ,business ,Acute-Phase Proteins - Abstract
Background: Breast cancer risk increases during pregnancy and remains elevated for a number of years thereafter. Cancer-associated proteins that are secreted into breast milk may provide a means to detect cancer in the lactating breast or to assess future breast cancer risk. Objective: To determine whether proteins linked to breast cancer would be differentially expressed in matched (both breasts from each participant) human milk samples collected from women with unilateral breast cancer. Methods: Five cancer-associated proteins (basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF], YKL-40, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, and transforming growth factor β1 and β2) were analyzed in milk provided by 5 lactating women, 4 of whom were known to have cancer in 1 breast (and the opposite breast clinically disease free) at the time of milk collection and 1 who developed breast cancer 2 years after milk collection. Results: Expression was significantly higher for TGFβ2 ( P = .03) and bFGF ( P =.03) in the breasts with cancer. Conclusion: These proteins may play a role in assessing a woman’s risk of pregnancy-associated breast cancer. Because of variable protein concentration among patients and the limited sample size, the results are considered preliminary.
- Published
- 2012
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