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The glycoproteins of tumour cells are often abnormal, both in structure and in quantity. In particular, the mucin-type O-glycans have several cancer-associated structures, including the T and Tn antigens, and certain Lewis antigens. These structural changes can alter the function of the cell, and its antigenic and adhesive properties, as well as its potential to invade and metastasize. Cancer-associated mucin antigens can be exploited in diagnosis and prognosis, and in the development of cancer vaccines. The activities and Golgi localization of glycosyltransferases are the basis for the glycodynamics of cancer cells, and determine the ranges and amounts of specific O-glycans produced. This review focuses on the glycosyltransferases of colon and breast cancer cells that determine the pathways of mucin-type O-glycosylation, and the proposed functional and pathological consequences of altered O-glycans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) status was analysed in paraffin-embedded breast cancer material with immunohistochemical (IHC) technique and compared with corresponding analyses in cytosols (CYT). ER showed the same status (positive/negative) with both methods in 88% of the samples (352/402). The concordance was also high for PgR status (81% [321/394]). Besides values near cut-off, heterogeneity in the distribution of receptor positive and negative nuclei within a tumour sample was the main reason for discordances. Histological type, presence of sclerosis, necrosis and non-invasive cells, and technical artefacts seem to be of only limited importance for explaining discordances. All patients have been treated with adjuvant tamoxifen for two years. The two subgroups, which were ER CYT +/ER IHC + or ER CYT -/ER IHC +, both had a significantly better progression-free survival (PFS; median follow-up: almost 6 years) than the ER CYT -/ER IHC - group (p<0.001 and p=0.007, respectively). The remaining group, ER CYT +/ER IHC -, had an intermediate PFS. For PgR, the associations with PFS were weaker, with significantly better PFS than the PgR CYT -/PgR IHC - group being found only for the PgR CYT +/PgR IHC - group (p=0.03). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this trial was to study the value of adding post-operative radiotherapy to lumpectomy in a subgroup of breast cancer patients with favourable patient-, tumour-, and treatment-related prognostic features. 152 women aged over 40 with unifocal breast cancer seen in preoperative mammography were randomly assigned to lumpectomy alone (no-XRT group) or to lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy to the ipsilateral breast (50 Gy given within 5 weeks, XRT group). All cancers were required to be invasive node-negative, smaller than 2 cm in diameter and well or moderately differentiated, to contain no extensive intraductal component, to be progesterone receptor-positive, DNA diploid, have S-phase fraction ≤7 and be excised with at least 1 cm margin. During a mean follow-up time of 6.7 years, 13 (18.1%) cancers recurred locally in the no-XRT and 6 (7.5%) in the XRT group (P = 0.03). There was no difference between the groups in the ultimate breast preservation rate (95.0% vs. 94.4% in XRT and no-XRT, respectively,P = 0.88), distant metastasis-free survival (P = 0.36), or 5-year cancer-specific survival (97.1% in XRT and 98.6 in no-XRT). Radiation therapy given after lumpectomy reduces the frequency of ipsilateral breast recurrences even in women with small breast cancer with several favourable clinical and biological features. However, the breast preservation rate may not increase due to more frequent use of salvage mastectomies in patients treated with postoperative radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The detection rate of small, often subclinical breast cancers is increasing in affluent societies. Concomitantly, the demand for more conservative surgical approaches is also increasing among the women affected. Predictors of the absence of nodal invasion would spare many patients with early breast cancer the risks, costs and side effects of lymphadenectomy, and thus treatment with curative intent would be applied using really minimal surgery. Patients and Methods: We reviewed the records of 135 patients with unifocal invasive breast cancers, 2 cm or less in diameter, operated upon at 'Fundación Tejerina-Centro de Patología de la Mama', Madrid, Spain, between January 1993 and December 1997. Full clinical and pathological data were available for all of them, together with estrogen and progesterone receptor determinations, which had been routinely performed in 134 and 133 cases, respectively. Additionally, Ki67, c-erb-B2, p53, nm23, HSP27, HSP60 and CD44std expression was studied on archival, paraffin-embedded tumor material from these same patients by means of immunohistochemistry. Results: In the univariate analysis, only histologic grade 3 (p < 0.001), Ki67 expression in more than 10% of tumor cells (p = 0.005) and CD44std negativity (p = 0.004) were significantly associated with axillary node involvement. In multivariate analysis, histologic grade 3 and CD44std negativity retained statistical significance, and thus emerged as independent predictors of nodal invasion. The combination of both, furthermore, identified a subgroup in which the axillary nodes were invariably affected. Conclusion: Some pathological and molecular features of small breast cancers were able to predict nodal metastasis significantly. However, none, either alone nor combined, was able to exclude axillary node invasion completely. Copyright © 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression, clinicopathological variables, silver-stained nuclear organizer region (Ag-NOR) counts, and patient survival was determined in 93 patients with operable breast cancer. The EGFR expression was found to be significantly associated with the presence and number of axillary lymph node metastases ( P = 0.0429), but not with age, menopausal status, tumor size, histologic type or grade, or Ag-NOR counts. In a univariate analysis, a significant difference was also observed in the survival of patients stratified by tumor size ( P = 0.0091), histologic grade ( P = 0.0352), axillarly lymph node metastases ( P = 0.0001), and EGFR expression ( P = 0.0263). However, a multivariate analysis revealed that axillarly lymph node metastases was the only strong independent predictor ol'survival ( P < 0.0001). When axillary lymph node metastases were excluded from the Cox model, the EGFR expression tended to be an independent prognostic factor ( P = 0.0558). The results of this study thus indicate that the prognostic value of EGFR expression is limited because the EGFR expression is significantly associated with axillary lymph node metastases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]