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Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in China. Hence, how best to live with and improve the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of this growing population of women is thus becoming of great public health importance. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship of lifestyle habits to HRQoL among younger and older women who were initially diagnosed with breast cancer within the first two weeks, determine the contribution of lifestyle habits factors on HRQoL.Methods: A multi-center, hospital-based, case control study was conducted among breast cancer women from 22 hospitals in 11 provinces or municipalities in northern and eastern China from April 2012 to April 2013. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer (FACT-B) simplified Chinese version 4 was used to measure HRQoL. Chi-square test, ANOVA and Multivariable generalized linear models were conducted to verify differences in HRQoL between two groups and to evaluate the contribution of lifestyle habits factors ( including smoking, passive smoking, alcohol intake, Tea, Coffee, Sleep satisfaction, Current life satisfaction, Physical activity, BMI) on HRQoL of breast cancer patients.Results: 1199 eligible breast cancer patients were used for analysis. Younger women (age Conclusion: The relationship of the nine lifestyle habit items to HRQoL were different between younger and older women. Associated variable of low HRQoL can help clinicians take intervention early in order to improve the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

This study aimed to investigate risk factors associated with breast cancer among Han Chinese women in northern and eastern China. A matched case-control study involving 1489 patients with breast cancer and 1489 controls was conducted across 21 hospitals in 11 provinces in China, from April 2012 to April 2013. We developed a structured questionnaire to record information from face-to-face interviews with participants. Student's t-tests, Pearson's chi-square tests, and univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were used to identify variables with significant differences between the case and control groups. Ten variables were identified (P

The present study was performed to investigate the therapeutic performance of polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles towards the delivery of lapatinib (LPT) in breast cancers. We have successfully developed the lapatinib-loaded polymer-lipid hybrid nanosystem and showed its therapeutic potential in in vitro and in vivo models of breast cancer. The nanoformulations consisted of a polymeric core (poly[lactide-co-glycolide]-D-a-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate [PLGA–TPGS]), which was then enveloped by a PEGylated lipid layer (DSPE-PEG) (PLPT) to maintain the structural integrity. The PLPT formulation controlled the drug release in pH 7.4 conditions and accelerated the release at pH 5.5 conditions. The PLPT showed a remarkable cellular internalization and efficiently killed the MCF-7 cancer cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, LPT-loaded nanoparticles effectively induced apoptosis of cancer cells than compared to free LPT. Pharmacokinetic data suggested that nanoparticles could significantly enhance the blood circulation time of LPT by reducing the uptake by a reticuloendothelial system (RES). The prolonged blood circulation of PLPT could allow the preferential accumulation of drug in the tumor tissues. Importantly, PLPT significantly reduced the tumor burden of cancerous mice and effectively controlled the tumor cell proliferation. TUNEL assay further showed a greater apoptosis of tumor tissues in the PLPT treated mice group. Our results suggest that the use of a hybrid system may allow a decrease in the dosage regimen without the loss of therapeutic effect. Overall, lapatinib-loaded hybrid nanoparticles hold great potential for achieving an optimal therapeutic effect in breast cancer treatment. The present anticancer drug delivery system could be potentially applied for the treatment of other cancers.

Background We investigated the reliability of core needle biopsy (CNB) in evaluating the status of hormone receptor (HR), human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2, and Ki-67 status, and the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on the expression of these immunohistochemical markers. Methods Among 177 patients with breast adenocarcinoma, 95 patients underwent NAC and the remaining 82 patients made up the control group. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to evaluate the expression status of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER-2, and Ki-67 in the specimens obtained by surgical excision or CNB. Results In the control group, the expression of ER, PR, HER-2, and Ki-67 was highly consistent between samples from surgical excision or CNB (all r > 0.8, P 0.05). In the NAC group, pre- and post-treatment ER+ rates did not significantly differ (P > 0.05), although PR+ and high Ki-67 expression rates did significantly differ (P < 0.05). Conclusion Neither CNB nor surgical excision samples gave highly consistent results in HR, HER-2, and Ki-67 status. NAC can alter HR and Ki-67 status in breast adenocarcinoma patients. NAC decreased PR+ rate and Ki-67 expression. The mean ER+ rate exhibited a decreasing, but insignificant trend after NAC treatment. NAC had no significant effect on HER-2 expression.

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after neoadjuant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer patients with confirmed axillary nodal metastases. Methods We enrolled 51 patients with breast cancer who received NAC. All patients were proven to have axillary nodal metastases by histopathology biopsy prior to NAC. They all underwent SLNB before breast surgery, and complete axillary lymph node dissection immediately followed. Results The identification rate for SLNB was 87.5% (84/96); the false negative rate was 24.5% (12/49). The clinicopathological factors were not significantly correlated with the identification and false negative rate of the SLNB. Lymphatic mapping, blue dye or radionuclide methods tended to decrease the identification rate of SLNB (P = 0.073). Clinical nodal status before NAC has a trend to increase the false-negative rates of the SLNB (P = 0.059). For patients with N1 clinical axillary lymph nodal status, the identification rate was 93.9%, and the false negative rate was 5.9%, compared with N2-3 patients with 73.9% and 38.9%, respectively. Conclusions SLNB is feasible for the patients whose axillary lymph nodal status before NAC is N1. However, for N2-3 patients, SLNB cannot be used as an infallible indicator of non-SLN status.

Cancer stem cell (CSC) formation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) are pivotal events in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. They have been shown to occur in resistance to tamoxifen. Moreover, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been associated with CSCs, EMT as well as tamoxifen resistance. Studying molecular mechanism of CSCs, EMT as well as tamoxifen resistance will help us to further understand the pathogenesis and progression of the disease and offer new targets for effective therapies. In the present study, we showed that miR-375 inhibits CSC traits in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation identified HOXB3 as a direct target of miR-375. Overexpressing miR-375 degraded HOXB3 mRNA in MCF-7 cells. Moreover, overexpression of HOXB3 induced formation of CSC phenotypes, EMT and tamoxifen-resistance as well as enhanced ability of migration and invasion in MCF-7 cells. Most ER-positive breast cancer-related deaths occur, because of resistance to standard therapies and metastasis, restoring miR-375 or targeting HOXB3 might serve as potential therapeutic approaches for the treatment of tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.

Objective The axillary reverse mapping (ARM) technique has recently been developed to prevent lymphedema by preserving the arm lymphatic drainage during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) procedures. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the feasibility and oncological safety of ARM. Methods We searched Medline, Embase, Web of science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library for relevant prospective studies. The identification rate of ARM nodes, the crossover rate of SLN-ARM nodes, the proportion of metastatic ARM nodes, and the incidence of complications were pooled into meta-analyses by the random-effects model. Results A total of 24 prospective studies were included into meta-analyses, of which 11 studies reported ARM during SLNB, and 18 studies reported ARM during SLNB. The overall identification rate of ARM nodes was 38.2% (95% CI 32.9%-43.8%) during SLNB and 82.8% (78.0%-86.6%) during ALND, respectively. The crossover rate of SLN-ARM nodes was 19.6% (95% CI 14.4%-26.1%). The metastatic rate of ARM nodes was 16.9% (95% CI 14.2%-20.1%). The pooled incidence of lymphedema was 4.1% (95% CI 2.9–5.9%) for patients undergoing ARM procedure. Conclusions The ARM procedure was feasible during ALND. Nevertheless, it was restricted by low identification rate of ARM nodes during SLNB. ARM was beneficial for preventing lymphedema. However, this technique should be performed with caution given the possibility of crossover SLN-ARM nodes and metastatic ARM nodes. ARM appeared to be unsuitable for patients with clinically positive breast cancer due to oncological safety concern.

Lapatinib is highly active against breast cancer with HER2 overexpression in preclinical and clinical settings. Constitutive activation of NF-κB is linked to proliferation and apoptosis in breast cancer cells. NF-κB can be activated by HER2 in breast cancer cells. However, the effect of lapatinib on NF-κB activity is not completely clear. In this study, we showed that lapatinib potently inhibited activation of NF-κB in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells, including SKBR3 and MDA-MB-453; but not in non-HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB‑435. In addition, we established a model of acquired resistance to lapatinib by chronically challenging SKBR3 breast cancer cells with increasing concentrations of lapatinib. EMSA assays showed that there was decreased NF-κB activity in the resistant cells. Western blot analysis showed that lapatinib reduced the phosphorylation of IκB-α in a time- and dose-dependent manner in SKBR3 cells. Furthermore, the expression level of p-IκB-α protein was markedly decreased in the resistant cells, compared with the parental SKBR3 cells. Additionally, treatment with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 dramatically inhibited activation of NF-κB in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Moreover, LY294002 inhibited phosphorylation of Akt and IκB-α in SKBR3 cells. Our results suggest that lapatinib potently inhibits the activation of NF-κB in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Lapatinib appears to inactivate NF-κB through reducing phosphorylation of IκB-α via blocking the PI3K/Akt cascade.

RhoBTB2 was isolated recently as a tumor suppressor gene from human chromosome 8p21.3. Although RhoBTB2 was found to be frequently lost in breast cancer lines, expression status of RhoBTB2 in sporadic breast cancer tissues and its clinical and prognostic value, however, remain unclear. Tissue samples from breast cancer patients and normal controls and cell samples from cell lines were collected and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was used to monitor the presence of RhoBTB2 mRNA. The protein expression of RhoBTB2 was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Cumulative survival time was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression model. We discovered that RhoBTB2 expression was lacking in a breast ductal epithelial carcinoma cell line T-47D but was expressed in other types of tumor cell lines and normal tissues we tested. The results from tissue samples showed that RhoBTB2 was absent in 60% of breast cancers on both the mRNA and protein level. The results from RT-PCR were completely uniform with those from immunohistochemistry. We demonstrated that loss of RhoBTB2 more frequently occurred in postmenopausal patients of age ≥50 yr old and in patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast. The prognostic value of RhoBTB2 in breast cancers also be assessed by a long-term follow-up investigation and we found that patients with RhoBTB2-negative breast cancer were linked to poor clinical prognosis. Therefore, the loss of RhoBTB2 expression is a common occurrence in breast cancers and it is an important factor in the development and prognosis of sporadic breast cancer. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Although preoperative lymphoscintigraphy in sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for breast cancer patients is undergone commonly, its clinical significance remains controversial. We retrospectively analyzed our database that contained 636 consecutive breast cancer patients who received preoperative lymphoscintigraphy before SLNB. The sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) of 86.5% of patients were well imaged by lymphoscintigraphy, and SLN were located extra-axilla in 5.3% patients. The visualization of SLN in lymphoscintigraphy was not associated with histopathologic type, location, and stage of primary tumor, as well as the time interval from injection of radiocolloid to surgery. The negative lymphoscintigraphy results were associated with excision `biopsy before injection of radiocolloid and positive axillary node statues. The SLN was successfully detected in 625 (98.3%) enrolled patients. Failure of surgical identification of axillary SLN was associated with whether hot spot was imaged by lymphoscintigraphy. However, we identified axillary SLN in 90 (90.9%) out of 99 patients with negative axillary findings in lymphoscintigram. The false negative rate of SLNB in our study was 16.0% (15 of 94) among patients of training group, and there was no significant difference in the false negative rate between patients who had axillary hot spot in lymphoscintigram and those who had not (P = .273). Visualization of SLN in preoperative lymphoscintigraphy predicted the successful SLN identification. However, it was less informative for the location of SLN during operation. Considering the complexity, time consumed, and cost, lymphoscintigraphy should at present be undergone for investigation purposes only.

To explore the value of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) metastasis status in predicting the presence of residual disease in non-sentinel lymph nodes (nSLN) and the feasibility of avoiding or reducing the scope of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for patients with single positive SLN.A retrospective study was conducted for 2265 patients with invasive breast carcinomas undergoing sentinel lymph nodes biopsy (SLNB) at Shandong Cancer Hospital between November 1999 and December 2011. And 1228 patients with axillary dissection were screened and divided into 5 groups of (-), (1/n), (1/1), (n/N), (n/n) (n ≥ 2, N ≥ 3, Nn) according to the status of SLN metastasis.The nSLN metastasis rate of SLN(-), (1/n), (1/1), (n/N) and (n/n) groups was 11.8%(73/618), 25.2%(65/258), 49.6%(67/135), 48.4%(60/124)and 65.6%(61/93)respectively. A comparison of SLN(-), (1/n), (1/1), (n/N), and (n/n) groups of nSLN metastasis showed a significant difference (P = 0.000). The differences of nSLN metastasis between SLN(-) and other groups (including 1/n, 1/1, n/N, n/n group) were significant (P = 0.000). This difference was also significant between SLN (1/n) and other positive groups (include 1/1, n/N, n/n group) (P = 0.000), but not significant between SLN(1/1), (n/N) and (n/n) groups (P = 0.842, 0.017, 0.042 respectively, Chi-square segmentation). No significant difference existed between axillary lymph node metastasis on Level II and III of SLN 1/n group and SLN(-) group (P = 0.012, 0.570,χ(2) segmentation).The status of SLN metastasis is one of influencing factors for the nSLN metastasis of patients with invasive breast cancer. The possibility of non-sentinel lymph node involvement for patients with single SLN metastasis was smaller than that of other SLN-positive patients. It is safe for some SLN 1/n patients to undergo low lymph node dissection. But ALND is not avoided for patients with single positive SLN (SLN 1/n n ≥ 2). Their clinicopathological variables should be also considered.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of avoiding axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for patients with only one sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis. The characteristics and predictive factors for non-sentinel lymph node (NSLN) metastasis of patients with single positive SLN were also analyzed.Patients with no and only one SLN metastasis (0/n and 1/n group, n ≥ 2) were selected from 1228 cases of invasive breast carcinoma, who underwent axillary dissection in Shandong Cancer Hospital between November 1999 and December 2011, to compare the characteristics of NSLN metastasis between them. For the 1/n group, the factors that influenced the NSLN metastasis were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis.Differences of the NSLN metastasis between the 0/n and the 1/n groups were significant (P0.001). There was no significant difference between the axillary lymph node metastasis on level III in 1/n group and 0/n group (P = 0.570). When the total SLN number was ≥ 4 and with one positive case, the NSLN metastasis was not significantly different from that in the 0/n group (P = 0.118). In the 1/n group, clinical tumor size (P = 0.012), over-expression of Her-2 (P = 0.003), tumor grade (P = 0.018) and the total number of SLN (P = 0.047) significantly correlated with non-SLN metastasis. Clinical tumor size (P = 0.015) and the expression of Her-2 (P = 0.01) were independent predictive factors for non-SLN metastasis by the Logistic regression model.Under certain conditions, breast cancer patients with single SLN metastasis could avoid ALND.

To determine the effect of the down-regulation of osteopontin (OPN) expression on the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic drug, OPN shRNA was used to transfect the OPN-positive breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. The expression of OPN mRNA and protein was analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry. Transfected MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with different concentrations of doxorubicin. Growth of MDA-MB-231 cells and IC50 of doxorubicin were determined by MTT assay. Expression of OPN mRNA and OPN protein of cells transfected with OPN shRNA was significantly decreased when compared to the negative controls (P

To explore the studies and application status of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer in China by statistically analyzing the relevant domestic literature.The literatures published from January 1999 to December 2005 were searched in the databases of China, Info, CBM and CNKI retrieval system with "breast tumor, SLN and SLNB" as the key words. A total of 88 manuscripts were selected with 2 new reports of SLNB. The successful rate, accuracy, false-negative rate and sensitivity of SLNB were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 statistical analysis software.Among a total of 6282 patients, the detection rate of SLNB was 90.82% (5705/6282) and the overall false-negative rate 9.69% (259/2671). The prediction sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, accuracy, negative and positive predictive value of SLN for axillary lymph nodes status were 90.30%, 99.64%, 0.41%, 86.52%, 92.11% and 99.55% respectively.SLNB can accurately predict the axillary lymph node metastasis. And its detection rate is correlated with patient age and tumor location. The detection rate and false-negative rate has nothing to do with the tracer injection site. A combined regimen has a higher detection rate and a low false negative rate. Affecting the whole breast, SLN is not correlated with a particular area of breast. The validation phase of SLNB in breast cancer is currently feasible in China.

The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical significance of expression of Fas, CTLA-4 and RhoBTB2 genes in breast carcinoma.Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptive polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to analyze the mRNA expression levels of the three genes in tumor tissues from 60 patients with primary breast cancer and normal breast tissues of 30 cases. The relationship between gene expression and clinicopathological factors were analyzed and determined.The relative expression levels (gray scale ratio between target gene and internal reference gene) of Fas, CTLA-4 and RhoBTB2 genes in breast carcinoma tissues were 0.699 +/- 0.285, 1.045 +/- 0.302 and 0.625 +/- 0.160, respectively. In the normal breast tissues, they were 0.502 +/- 0.178, 0.418 +/- 0.140 and 0.843 +/- 0.218, respectively. There were statistically significant differences of the expression of those three genes between carcinoma tissues and normal breast tissues (P0.01). The expression level of Fas in carcinoma tissues was significantly higher in lymph node matastasis positive patients (0.782 +/- 0.313) than that in node-negative patients (0.557 +/- 0.146, P0.01). The expression level of CTLA-4 gene in carcinoma tissues was lower in II stage patients (0.978 +/- 0.330) than that in III stage patients (1.134 +/- 0.240, P0.05). The expression level of RhoBTB2 gene was lower in invasive ductal carcinoma (0.597 +/- 0.157) than that in invasive lobular carcinoma (0.717 +/- 0.145, P0.05). There were no correlations of expression of the three genes at mRNA level and age, ER, PR, HER2 status and survival time. Furthermore, no correlation was seen among the three genes expression (P0.05).The expression of all the three genes at mRNA level is involved in genesis and progression of breast cancer. There exist correlations between Fas expression and axillary lymph node matastasis, CTLA-4 expression and disease stage, and RhoBTB2 expression and pathological type of breast cancer.

To investigate the correlation of CD80 and CD86 mRNA expression with the expression of transforming growth factor-beta1 mRNA (TGF-beta1) and interleukin-10 mRNA (IL-10) in the esophageal cancer. To explore the reason of impaired immunological function of dentritic cell (DC) and the mechanism of cancer cell escaption from body immunity system in the esophageal cancer patient.Expression of CD80, CD86, TGF-beta1 and IL-10R mRNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in specimens of 62 esophageal carcinoma and 16 normal esophageal mucosal tissues used as normal control.Expression of CD80 and CD86 mRNA in the esophageal cancer tissue was significantly lower than that in the normal esophageal mucosal tissue (CD80: P = 0.038; CD86: P = 0.0002). It was significantly higher in stage I or II than that in stage III or IV (CD80: P = 0.029; CD86: P = 0.045); and also higher in paitents with high or moderate differentiation than that with poor differentiation (CD80: P = 0.046; CD86: P = 0.044). Furthermore, it was found to be reversely correlated with expression of TGF-beta1, IL-10 mRNA by multiple regression analysis (P = 0. 0001) respectively, the more TGF-beta1 and IL-10 mRNA expressed in the tumor tissue, the less CD80 and CD86 mRNA expressed by dendritic cells.The expression of CD80 and CD86 mRNA in the tissues of esophageal cancer are found to be weak, and reversely correlated with the expression of TGF-beta1 and IL-10 mRNA. High level expression of TGF-beta1 and IL-10 mRNA may be an important influential factor to the weak expression of CD80 and CD86 mRNA, which may be one of the reasons leading to impaired function of dendritic cells and immune escape of cancer cells in the esophageal cancer patient.

Our purpose was to explore clinical significance of three kinds of drug resistance related proteins, including P-glycoprotein (P-gp), lung resistance protein (LRP), multidrug resistance related protein (MRP) expressions in infiltrating breast carcinoma tissues.Flow cytometry was used to analyze the expression of drug resistance related proteins in carcinoma tissues and corresponding para-carcinoma tissues from 68 primary infiltrating breast carcinoma patients.The relative fluorescence intensity (RFI) expressed by median (M) of P-gp, LRP and MRP in breast carcinoma tissues were 0.58, 0.51and 0.56 respectively. In corresponding para-carcinoma tissues, their expression level were 0.26, 0.33 and 0.30. Their difference were obvious (P0.05). There were not notable differences of drug resistance related protein expressions in different ages, different tumor sizes, different pathological types, different clinical stages, estrogen receptor or progestin receptor negative and positive patients (P0.05). The expressions of P-gp and MRP in lymph node metastasis positive patients were 0.61and 0.69, in lymph node metastasis negative patients they were 0.54 and 0.45. There were no notable differences of P-gp and MRP expression in lymph node metastasis negative and positive patients. The expression of LRP (M = 1.49) was higher in lymph node metastasis positive patients than that in negative patients (M = 0.50, P0.05). The correlation analysis showed that there was positive correlation between the expression of LRP and MRP in breast carcinoma tissues (P0.05).The clinical significance of three kinds of drug resistance related protein expressions had differences in infiltrating breast carcinoma tissues. The expression of LRP had related with lymph node metastasis status and had positive correlation with MRP expression. It can become a target in forecasting breast carcinoma prognosis.

The level of total adiponectin, a mixture of different adiponectin forms, has been reported associated with breast cancer risk with inconsistent results. Whether the different forms play different roles in breast cancer risk prediction is unclear. To examine this, we measured total and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin in a case-control study (1167 sets). Higher circulating HMW adiponectin was negatively associated with breast cancer risk after adjusting for menopausal status and family history of breast cancer (P=0.024). We analyzed the relationship between adiponectin and breast cancer risk in 6 subgroups. Higher circulating HMW adiponectin was also negatively associated with breast cancer risk (P=0.020, 0.014, 0.035) in the subgroups of postmenopausal women, negative family history of breast cancer, BMI>=24.0. Total adiponectin was positively associated with breast cancer (P=0.028) in the subgroup of BMI=24.0 subgroups, whereas higher circulating HMW adiponectin levels is a risk factor in women with a family history of breast cancer. Further investigation of different forms of adiponectin on breast cancer risk is needed.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the expression and clinical significance of multiple tumor suppressor gene 1 (MTS1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene in invasive breast cancers.Flow cytometry was used to analyze the expression level of MTS1 and COX-2 in cancer tissues and corresponding para-cancer tissues from 66 cases of primary invasive breast cancers.In breast cancer tissues, the expression of MTS1 and COX-2 assessed by relative fluorescence intensity were 0.84 and 10.54, respectively, and were 1.61 and 4.00 in corresponding para-cancer tissues, respectively. There was a significant difference between MTS1 and COX-2 expressions in cancer and corresponding para-cancer tissues (P0.05). The differences of MTS1 and COX-2 expression of different ages, pathological types, tumor sizes or clinical stages of the breast cancer patients were not significant (P0.05). The MTS1 and COX-2 expressions were 1.12 and 5.94, respectively, in lymph node metastasis positive patients, and 0.79 and 13.05, respectively, in lymph node metastasis negative patients. The differences were significant (P0.05).The preliminary research results suggest that MTS1 and COX-2 gene expressions play fairly important role in tumorigenesis and progression of breast cancers. MTS1 and COX-2 protein expressions have correlation with lymph node metastasis. This study provides theoretical basis for use of COX-2 selective inhibitors in prevention and treatment for breast cancer patients.

The study was to research the biological effect and mechanisms of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231.The cytotoxicity was observed by MTT assay. Apoptosis was detected with Annexin V-FITC + PI dual parameter. Cell cycle and positive rate of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), apoptosis associated protein Fas and bcl-2 and intracellular calcium ions (IECa(2+)) levels were measured by flow cytometry.As2O3 could inhibit the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells dramatically. There was obvious dosage-effect correlation (r = 0.99, P0.01), its half inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) was 6.65 micromol/L. Apoptosis was observed in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with As2O3. As2O3 could increase Fas expression and IECa(2+) levels and decrease PCNA expression in MDA-MB-231 cells (P0.01). Cell cycle was arrested in S + G(2)/M phase, but bcl-2 protein expression were not affected (P0.05).As2O3 could inhibit the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells dramatically and induce apoptosis. We proposed that its mechanisms were probably associated with the improved Fas expression and IECa(2+) levels and decreased PCNA expression and cell cycle arrest.

To investigate the expression of osteopontin mRNA and its correlation with clinicopathologic features of gastric cancer and elucidate its role in tumor invasion and distant metastasis.The expression of OPN mRNA was detected by semi-quantitive RT-PCR. The relationship between the relative content of OPN mRNA and clinicopathologic features of gastric cancer was analyzed.In 66 cancer tissue samples, a 330 bp band was detected in 50 cases, the positive rate of OPN mRNA expression was 75.8% (50/66). The expression in all 20 cases of normal gastric mucosa was negative. The expression was associated with the depth of tumor invasion, diameter, lymph node metastasis and but had no correlation with differentiation grades. The 66 patients were followed up for 10 approximately 27 months (mean 16 months). The OPN mRNA expression positive group (50 cases) had recurrence in 15 patients and the negative group (16 cases) had only 1 case with recurrence (P = 0.05); 10 patients died in OPN mRNA expression positive group but no patient died in OPN staining negative group (P = 0.05).OPN mRNA is over-expressed in gastric cancer. It reflects the progression of disease and association with poor prognosis of gastric cancer. OPN may play an important role in the process of distant metastasis in gastric cancer.

To investigate the inhibitory and apoptosis regulating effects of adriamycin (ADM) on different human breast cancer cell lines and to evaluate the value of apoptosis in breast cancer treatment.Human breast cancer cells of the lines Bcap37 and MDA-MB-231 were cultured. ADM of different concentrations was added into the culture fluid. MTT method was used to detect the inhibition rate. Flow cytometry was used to detect the proliferation and apoptosis of the cells. To examine the expression of apoptosis-related molecules: Fas, mutant p53, and Bcl-2 proteins.ADM inhibited the proliferation of Bcap37 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells dose and time-dependently, however, the inhibitory effect of ADM was stronger on the Bcap37 cells than on the MDA-MB-231 cells. After being treated by ADM the expression of Fas was increased and the expression of Bcl-2 was decreased in the Bcap37 cells. However, after being treated by ADM the expressions of Fas, Bcl-2, and mutant p53 in the MDA-MB-231 cells remained almost unchanged. Treated by ADM for 24 hours the apoptotic rate of the Bcap37 cells was increased from 0% to 5.8% (P0.05), however, no apoptosis was detected in the MDA-MB-231 cells after treatment of ADM at any time pint.With different molecular and biological characteristics, different breast cancer lines are different in chemosensitivity and drug-resistance, which are related to their apoptotic abilities induced by chemotherapeutic drugs.

Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) showed good curative effect on acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in clinic. Now, As2O3 was used in experimental research of treating solid tumors,such as gastric cancer,head and neck tumors, esophageal cancer, etc. This study was to research the toxicity effect of As2O3 on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line SPCA1, and its mechanism.MTT assay was used to observe inhibitory effect of As2O3 on proliferation of SPCA1 cells; cell cycle changes,apoptosis-associated proteins,Fas and Bcl-2,and intracellular calcium ions (IECa(2+)) content in SPCA1 cells treated with different doses of As2O3 were measured by flow cytometry.As2O3 inhibited proliferation of SPCA1 cells dramatically with a dosage-effect correlation (r=0.973,P0.05),its 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) was 8.56 micromol/L. As2O3 enhanced Fas protein expression,and intracellular Ca(2+) content (P0.05),but didn't influence Bcl-2 protein expression (P0.05). The cell cycle arrested in G2/M phase in SPCA1 cells treated with As2O3.As2O3 could inhibit the growth of SPCA1 cells in vitro, its mechanism is probably associated with the increased Fas expression and intracellular Ca(2+) content,and cell cycle arrest.

The variant form,CD44v6, of cellular surface adhesive molecule CD44 plays an important role in tumor metastasis, but the research results of its expression in breast cancer have obvious differences. Mutant of p53 gene was the most common gene abnormality associated with tumorigenesis of human. This study was to explore expression, and mutual relationship of p53, CD44v6, and DNA ploidy in breast cancer.Flow cytometry was used to analyze expression level of p53, CD44v6, and DNA ploidy in 52 specimens of breast cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues, and 18 specimens of benign breast tumor tissues.Expression levels of p53 and CD44v6, S phase fraction (SPF), and proliferation index (PI) in breast cancer tissues were higher than those in adjacent noncancerous tissues, benign breast tumor tissues, and normal breast tissues (P0.05). Expression of p53, CD44v6, SPF, and PI had no relation with patients' age, pathologic type, tumor size, and clinical stage (P0.05). Expression of p53,CD44v6, SPF, and PI in patients with lymph node metastasis were higher than those in patients without lymph node metastasis (P0.05). Of 52 breast cancer patients, 23 were aneuploid (44.23%), 20 of 23 had metastasis; 29 were diploid (55.77%), 17 of 29 had metastasis. Lymph node metastasis rate in aneuploid patients was higher than that in diploid patients (P0.05); expression level of p53 protein in aneuploid tumors was higher than that in diploid tumors (P0.05), but this phenomenon was not seen in CD44v6 expression (P0.05). The correlation analysis revealed that p53 protein expression positively correlated with SPF and PI (P0.05), whereas CD44v6 expression didn't correlate with SPF and PI (P0.05).Expression of p53 and CD44v6,and DNA content may play important roles in tumorigenesis, and progression of breast cancer. Expression of p53 and CD44v6,DNA ploidy, SPF, and PI may be correlated with lymph node metastasis. p53 and CD44v6 gene, and DNA content may become prognostic factors of breast cancer.