Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0006142 (breast cancer)
 160,383 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Of 312 patients presenting with breast cancer to a single clinic, 297 were screened for metastases in skin and nodes, bone, marrow, liver and lungs, using standard clinical, radiological scanning and cytological techniques. Thirty-four patients were found to have overt metastatic disease using these tests. Metastases were demonstrable on chest X-ray in 6.1% of the entire group of patients, on the bone scan in 4.2%, liver scan in 1.5%, liver ultrasound in 1.2% and in the bone marrow in only a single patient; 3.8% had contralateral or supraclavicular lymph node metastases or skin metastases. Twenty-eight of these 34 patients (82%) with overt metastases would have been classed as metastatic had only chest X-ray and clinical examination been carried out.A survey was then carried out to determine when tests for bone and liver metastases became abnormal. Bone scan and skeletal survey results were reviewed in 58 patients, 22 of whom had developed skeletal metastases and all of whom had regular skeletal scintigraphy carried out. Sixteen of 20 (80%) scans carried out within six months of the development of skeletal deposits were abnormal compared with 4 of 19 (21%) scans at the same follow-up time in those who failed to develop metastases, but few patients showed definite evidence of bone metastases on scanning prior to radiological metastases. Fifty-one patients who were found to have liver metastases at post-mortem were reviewed and most showed progressively rising alkaline phosphatase before death but only 11 of 57 (19.2%) and 14 of 50 (28%) had positive liver scintiscans and liver ultrasound examinations respectively from 3-12 months before death.
 ...
PMID:Physical test for distant metastases in patients with breast cancer. 724 68

Serum CEA levels were determined in 2095 patients following mastectomy for breast cancer by means of a double antibody 125 I-CEA-radioimmunoassay. 91% of 1462 patients free of metastases had normal levels less than or equal to 3 ng/ml (98% less than or equal to 5 ng/ml). In contrast, 54% of 633 patients with overt metastases had raised values greater than 3 ng/ml (43% greater than 5 ng/ml). The incidence of pathological levels was dependent on tumour burden and metastatic location rising from solitary lymph node disease (6% greater than 5 ng/ml) to skin, lung, bone, liver and multiple organ involvement (60%). CEA levels correlated weakly with total alkaline phosphatase and gamma-GT activities, but not with ESR or bilirubin levels. Of 531 patients followed after surgery and who had 3-18 serial determinations in 3-51 months, 46% without metastases had normal CEA levels as did 41% of 285 patients with metastases. Of the remaining 168 patients with elevated CEA levels, most showed a correlation between rising levels and disease progression, decreasing levels with remission and persistence of fluctuating levels with stationary disease. The CEA test is recommended as a valuable adjunct to monitor the clinical response to chemo/hormo/radiotherapy in metastatic breast cancer.
 ...
PMID:Serial carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) determinations in the management of metastatic breast cancer. 727 99

The concentration of bound sialic acid in the sera of 56 normal subjects and 65 subjects with breast cancer was measured, in order to determine (1) whether serum sialic acid concentrations are raised in breast cancer and (2) whether the concentration of sialic acid in serum reflects tumour stage. The amount of sialic acid in serum was compared to serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) values. Urinary hydroxyproline and serum alkaline phosphatase concentrations were used as indicators of bone and liver involvement. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was also measured. Significantly elevated serum sialic acid concentrations were found in breast cancer, and showed correlation with tumour stage. Serum sialic acid values did not correlate with CEA values. The results suggest that measurement of serum sialic acid concentrations may be of adjunctive value in assessing tumour stage.
 ...
PMID:Serum sialic acid and CEA concentrations in human breast cancer. 738 56

Sialyltransferase enzyme levels (Sialtx) CEA, and 10 standard laboratory tests were studied in 50 patients with treated, recurrent, or disseminated breast carcinoma. All groups of patients had elevated mean Sialtx activity (CPM/mg protein) as compared with normal controls. Sialtx levels (expressed as % of normal controls) of patients with disseminated lesions were significantly elevated as compared to patients without evidence of disease or with only soft tissue recurrences, whereas CEA and alkaline phosphatase levels were significantly elevated (peripheral blood lymphocyte count, total protein and albumin levels significantly decreased) in patients with recurrent disease of all sites. Among patients with disseminated breast cancer and normal CEA levels, about 50% had markedly elevated Sialtx activities. From our limited experience, it appears that Sialtx study is of value when CEA failed to indicate the presence of breast malignancy. Further testing including serial studies should be done to better define its clinical usefulness.
 ...
PMID:Plasma sialyltransferase in patients with breast cancer. 739 38

Peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) are increasingly used for autografting after high-dose chemotherapy. One advantage of PBPCs over the use of autologous bone marrow would be a reduced risk of tumor-cell contamination. However, the actual level of tumor cells contaminating PBPC harvests is poorly investigated. It is currently not known whether mobilization of PBPCs might also result in mobilization of tumor cells. We evaluated 358 peripheral blood samples from 46 patients with stage IV or high-risk stage II/III breast cancer, small cell (SCLC) or non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer, as well as other advanced malignancies for the detection of epithelial tumor cells. Monoclonal antibodies against acidic and basic cytokeratin components and epithelial antigens (HEA) were used in an alkaline phosphatase-anti-alkaline phosphatase assay with a sensitivity of 1 tumor cell within 4 x 10(5) total cells. Before initiation of PBPC mobilization, circulating tumor cells were detected in 2/7 (29%) patients with stage IV breast cancer and in 2/10 (20%) patients with extensive-disease SCLC, respectively. In these patients, an even higher number of circulating tumor cells was detected after chemotherapy with VP16, ifosfamide, and cisplatin (VIP) followed by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). This approach has previously been shown to be highly effective in mobilizing PBPCs. In the 42 patients without circulating tumor cells during steady state, tumor cells were mobilized in 9/42 (21%) patients after VIP+G-CSF induced recruitment of PBPCs. The overall incidence of tumor cells varied between 4 and 5,600 per 1.6 x 10(6) mononuclear cells analyzed. All stage IV breast cancer patients and 50% of SCLC patients were found to concomitantly mobilize tumor cells and PBPCs. Kinetic analyses showed two patterns of tumor cell recruitment depending on the presence or absence of bone marrow disease: (1) early after chemotherapy (between days 1 and 7) in patients without marrow infiltration, and (2) between days 9 and 16 in patients with marrow infiltration, ie, within the optimal time period for the collection of PBPCs. We show that there is a high proportion of patients with circulating tumor cells under steady-state conditions, and in addition a substantial risk of concomitant tumor cell recruitment upon mobilization of PBPCs, particularly in stage IV breast cancer patients with bone marrow infiltration. The biologic and clinical significance of this finding is unknown at present.
 ...
PMID:Mobilization of tumor cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells into peripheral blood of patients with solid tumors. 790 97

The detection of rare-event cells circulating in peripheral blood using automated image analysis was evaluated using a model system consisting of cells from a breast cancer cell line (SKBR3) seeded in a mononuclear cell suspension. Slides of cells with optimal morphology were prepared according to an optimized preparation procedure based on centrifugal cytology in combination with formalin fixation. SKBR3 cells were immunocytochemically stained for cytokeratin using the cam 5.2 monoclonal antibody and labelled with alkaline phosphatase using CAS-red as substrate. Because, for optimal segmentation of cell images, plain differences in absorption wavelength are required, the red immunostaining was combined with a green nuclear counter-staining based on ethyl green. Slides were automatically screened for cytokeratin-positive SKBR3 cells resulting in a lowest detectable frequency of one positive cell per 1.87 x 10(6) negative cells. A comparison between manual screening and automated screening for cytokeratin-positive cells showed a high level of correlation (0.9998). For the definition of the total number of objects per slide, two counting procedures were evaluated. Results were close to the visual score with a coefficient of variation of 0.47% for the counting procedure used in this study. It is concluded that optimization of preparation and staining procedures for the detection of rare-event cells using automated image analysis results in optimal image contrast and, consequently, in an increase in sensitivity for detecting rare events.
 ...
PMID:Detection of immunocytochemically stained rare events using image analysis. 753 33

We studied the variability in doxorubicin pharmacokinetics in 27 patients, all of whom had normal liver biochemistry tests. Blood samples were collected after the first cycle of single-agent doxorubicin given as an i.v. bolus and plasma levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The relationship of doxorubicin clearance (dose/AUC) with biochemical tests (AST, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, creatinine) and physical characteristics (age, gender, height, weight, tumour type) was investigated. The 6 men had a significantly higher doxorubicin clearance than did the 21 women (median values, 59 and 27 lh-1 m-2, respectively; P = 0.002). Doxorubicin clearance was significantly lower in patients with breast cancer than in those with other tumours (median values, 26 and 53 lh-1 m-2, respectively; P = 0.0008). The other biochemical and physical parameters did not correlate with doxorubicin clearance. However, in multivariate analysis, gender was the only factor predicting doxorubicin clearance (r2 = 40%). The ratio of the AUCs for doxorubicinol and doxorubicin (R) was higher in the men than in the women (median values, 0.62 and 0.36, respectively; P = 0.03). We conclude that gender may be an important determinant of doxorubicin clearance in patients with normal liver biochemistry.
 ...
PMID:Gender affects doxorubicin pharmacokinetics in patients with normal liver biochemistry. 755 38

Immunoradiometric determination of the bone isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase with a method provided by Hybritech Inc., San Diego CA (USA) was carried out in 145 female patients, 97 of whom with radically operated breast cancer and 48 with benign mammary cysts, in order to evaluate the correlation of serum levels with the metabolic process of bone rearrangement in patients with bone metastases. This study shows that skeletal ALP, having high specificity (86.48%) and sensitivity (78.6%) for early progression (the average anticipation time compared to scintigraphic detection was 101 days) could represent a valid marker for bone metastases in association with mucinous markers in the follow-up of patients operated for breast cancer. In addition, dynamic serum determination of skeletal ALP could be a valid help in monitoring the efficacy of therapy in patients with bone progression.
 ...
PMID:Skeletal alkaline phosphatase as a serum marker of bone metastases in the follow-up of patients with breast cancer. 762 26

Although 17 beta-estradiol (E2) replacement therapy has been shown to be effective in treating postmenopausal osteoporosis, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The presence of low levels of functional endogenous estrogen receptor (ER) in some osteoblastic cells has been demonstrated, and the suggestion that the abundance of ER may be rate-limiting in the action of E2 on these cells has been made. To study the mechanism of ER in regard to E2-mediated effects, we stably transfected a human osteosarcoma cell line, SaOS-2, with an expression vector, pMV-7-ER, containing the human ER gene. We characterized six of the stably transfected clones. One of the stable clones, SaOS-2-ER, expressed extra copies of ER genes integrated into the genome as detected by Southern blot analysis, showed a significantly increased level of ER mRNA by RT-PCR, and contained an increased level of ER cytosolic protein as detected by an ER-specific EIA. The overexpressed ER was functional and sensitive to E2 in a dose-dependent fashion after transient transfection with a vector containing an estrogen response element (ERE) linked to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. Scatchard analysis revealed a single high-affinity binding site with a Kd similar to values obtained for the ER in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. These SaOS-2-ER cells had altered osteoblast phenotypic features including growth inhibition, decreased basal alkaline phosphatase activity, and decreased IL-6 expression and secretion. In response to E2, a greater than 2-fold increase in TGF-beta 1 mRNA was quantitatively measured in these ER-overexpressing osteoblasts. These cells may provide a sensitive and unique model for understanding the mechanism of E2 and ER in overall bone metabolism.
 ...
PMID:Generation and characterization of a human osteosarcoma cell line stably transfected with the human estrogen receptor gene. 763 12

Recently, a correlation has been suggested between a loss of E-cadherin (E-CD) and increased invasiveness of neoplastic cells. In this study, E-CD expression in breast cancer was investigated using an affinity-purified antibody (ECCD-2) in an immunoenzymatic (avidin-biotin-alkaline phosphatase) test. Intensity and extension of E-CD immunoreactivity were evaluated in 61 breast carcinomas and correlated with their histological type and grade, nodal involvement, and hormonal receptor status. Histological types were infiltrating ductal carcinoma of no special type (n = 54) and infiltrating lobular carcinoma (n = 7). All infiltrating ductal carcinomas of no special type except two grade 3 carcinomas showed positive immunoreactivity that was variable among different cases. Grade 1 breast carcinomas (n = 10) showed greater immunoreactivity than grade 2 (n = 25) and grade 3 (n = 19) carcinomas. E-CD immunoreactivity correlated positively with the degree of tubular formation and inversely with the mitoses number. None of the infiltrating lobular carcinomas expressed E-CD in their infiltrating cells, whereas they showed only weak immunostains in areas of atypical lobular hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ. These results indicate that E-CD expression correlates with histological type and grade in breast carcinomas.
 ...
PMID:Correlation of E-cadherin expression with differentiation grade and histological type in breast carcinoma. 768 67


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10