Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jun 2007
High proportion of BRCA1/2 founder mutations in Hispanic breast/ovarian cancer families from Colombia.
In South America, a high proportion of the population is of Hispanic origin with an important representation in Colombia. Since nothing is known about the contribution of BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations to hereditary breast/ovarian cancer in the Hispanic population from Colombia, we conducted the first study of 53 breast/ovarian cancer families from this country. Comprehensive BRCA mutation screening was performed using a range of techniques, including DHPLC, SSCP, and PTT, followed by DNA sequencing analysis. ⋯ The prevalence of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations was 50% in multiple case breast cancer families, and was 33% for the breast-ovarian cancer families. Our findings show that BRCA mutations account for a substantial proportion of hereditary breast/ovarian cancer in Colombia. The spectrum of mutations differed completely to that previously reported in Hispanic families of predominantly Mexican origin from Southern California [1] suggesting that specific genetic risk assessment strategies for the different Hispanic populations in South America and in the United States need to be developed.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · May 2007
Physician and patient characteristics associated with outpatient breast cancer screening recommendations in the United States: analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Data 1996-2004.
The primary goal of breast cancer screening tests is to find cancer at an early stage before a person has any symptoms. Evidence suggests that screening examinations such as mammography and clinical breast examinations (CBE) are effective in early detection of breast cancer. Physician recommendation is an important reason many women undergo screening. This study examined the physician and patients related factors associated with physician recommendations for breast cancer screening in the United States (US) outpatient settings. ⋯ These findings indicated that there were certain disparities regarding the physician recommendations of breast cancer screening for women in the US outpatient settings.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Apr 2007
Impact of newly diagnosed breast cancer on quality of life among Chinese women.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer is a very stressful event that has a profound impact on multiple aspects of a patient's daily life. Little is known about the quality of life (QOL) of Chinese women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. ⋯ The findings of the present study provide important information on QOL and their correlates among Chinese women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and are helpful in developing treatment strategies accordingly.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Mar 2007
Coexistence of the loss of heterozygosity at the PTEN locus and HER2 overexpression enhances the Akt activity thus leading to a negative progesterone receptor expression in breast carcinoma.
Serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB is known to regulate divergent cellular processes, including apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism. Akt is activated by a variety of stimuli, through such growth factor receptors as HER2, in phosphoinositide-3-OH kinase (PI3K)-dependent manner. A loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) function also activates Akt. ⋯ In addition, when LOH at the PTEN gene locus and HER2 overexpression occurred simultaneously, the incidence of Akt activation and reduced PR expression was significant. The association between Akt activation and PR negative expression was observed even in the ER-positive cases. Our results suggest that simultaneous PTEN LOH and HER2 overexpression enhances Akt activation and may thus lead to a negative PR expression.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Mar 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyRandomized Phase II Trial of weekly paclitaxel alone versus trastuzumab plus weekly paclitaxel as first-line therapy of patients with Her-2 positive advanced breast cancer.
A randomized Phase II study evaluated the activity of weekly paclitaxel versus its combination with trastuzumab for treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer overexpressing HER-2. ⋯ Weekly paclitaxel plus trastuzumab is highly active and safe and it is superior to paclitaxel alone in patients with IHC score of 3+.