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BackgroundThe human breast comprise several ductal systems, or lobes, which contain a small amount of fluid containing cells, hormones, proteins and metabolites. The complex physiology of these ducts is likely a contributing factor to the development of breast cancer, especially given that the vast majority of breast cancers begin in a single lobular unit.MethodsWe examined the levels of total protein, progesterone, estradiol, estrone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and macrophages in ductal fluid samples obtained from 3 ducts each in 78 women, sampled twice over a 6 month period. Samples were processed for both cytological and molecular analysis. Intraclass correlation coefficients and mixed models were utilized to identify significant data.ResultsWe found that the levels of these ductal fluid components were generally uncorrelated among ducts within a single breast and over time, suggesting that each lobe within the breast has a distinct physiology. However, we also found that estradiol was more correlated in women who were nulliparous or produced nipple aspirate fluid.ConclusionsOur results provide evidence that the microenvironment of any given lobular unit is unique to that individual unit, findings that may provide clues about the initiation and development of ductal carcinomas.

IntroductionDuctal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a noninvasive breast cancer wherein malignant cells are confined within a ductal lobular unit. Although less than half the cases of DCIS will progress to invasive disease, most women are treated aggressively with surgery, radiation, and/or hormone therapy due to the inability to clinically evaluate the extent and location of the disease. Intraductal therapy, in which a drug is administered directly into the mammary duct through the nipple, is a promising approach for treating DCIS, but the feasibility of instilling drug into a diseased duct has not been established.Patients and methodsFour to 6 weeks before their scheduled surgery, 13 women diagnosed with DCIS were subjected to cannulation of the affected duct. After both the absence of perforation and presence of dye in the duct were confirmed by ductogram, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin was instilled. Histopathologic assessment was performed after surgery to assess the treatment effects.ResultsOf the 13 women enrolled in the study, 6 had their DCIS duct successfully cannulated without perforation and instilled with the drug. The treatment was well tolerated, and no serious adverse events have been reported. Biomarker studies indicated a general decrease in Ki-67 levels but an increase in annexin-1 and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in the lumen of DCIS-containing ducts, which suggests a local response to pegylated liposomal doxorubicin treatment.ConclusionsIntraductal therapy offers a nonsurgical strategy to treat DCIS at the site of disease, potentially minimizing the adverse effects of systemic treatment while preventing development of invasive cancer.

What are the ramifications of human beings transmogrified, by the stigma of disability or celebrity, into objects of cultural fascination, and how can we begin to define the consequences of this process for both the human object and the culture doing the objectifying? This article seeks to compare the experience of performing dwarfs as objects to be stared at, played with, and further miniaturised in the eyes of the public, with the contemporary treatment of Hollywood celebrities as abstract, dehumanised figures. I pair life writing in the form of memoirs (from Józef Boruwłaski and Michael Jackson) and portraiture (examining Velázquez's iconic painting Las Meninas) with critical work on celebrity and disability by Graeme Turner, Tobin Siebers and others in an attempt to both illuminate the mechanisms by which celebrities are distorted by the process of public consumption and explore the consequences of this distortion on the wider culture. The preoccupation with the body by disability scholars helps ground our conceptualisations of both the famous dwarf and the contemporary celebrity, and the life writings of an historical court dwarf and a twentieth-century celebrity provide a window into the self-conscious identity construction required of 'special' figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]