The postulated innocuity of lifetime exposure to aluminium should be reappraised.

Because of its chemical versatility and abundance in nature, aluminium is employed in a myriad of frequently used products - including cosmetics and food additives - and applications - drinking water purification procedures being an example. Despite what its widespread use might suggest, aluminium's harmlessness is a matter of debate in the scientific community. In this article we trace the lines of a growing questioning about the potential mutagenic effects of this metal, due to the data produced over the recent years, and with an eye to the discussions currently underway in this regard between the scientific community, industry, and regulatory bodies.

Aluminum Enters Mammalian Cells and Destabilizes Chromosome Structure and Number.

Chromosome instability (CIN) consists of high rates of structural and numerical chromosome abnormalities and is a well-known hallmark of cancer. Aluminum is added to many industrial products of frequent use. Yet, it has no known physiological role and is a suspected human carcinogen.

Aluminium chloride promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis in normal murine mammary gland epithelial cells.

Aluminium salts, present in many industrial products of frequent use like antiperspirants, anti-acid drugs, food additives and vaccines, have been incriminated in contributing to the rise in breast cancer incidence in Western societies. However, current experimental evidence supporting this hypothesis is limited. For example, no experimental evidence that aluminium promotes tumorigenesis in cultured mammary epithelial cells exists.

If exposure to aluminium in antiperspirants presents health risks, its content should be reduced.

Since aluminium (Al) pervades our environment, the scientific community has for many years raised concerns regarding its safety in humans. Al is present in numerous cosmetics such as antiperspirants, lipsticks and sunscreens. Al chlorohydrate is the active antiperspirant agent in underarm cosmetics and may constitute for Al a key exposure route to the human body and a potential source of damage.

Aluminium chloride promotes anchorage-independent growth in human mammary epithelial cells.

Aluminium salts used as antiperspirants have been incriminated as contributing to breast cancer incidence in Western societies. To date, very little or no epidemiological or experimental data confirm or infirm this hypothesis. We report here that in MCF-10A human mammary epithelial cells, a well-established normal human mammary epithelial cell model, long-term exposure to aluminium chloride (AlCl(3) ) concentrations of 10-300 µ m, i.

GSTP1 hypermethylation is associated with reduced protein expression, aggressive disease and prognosis in neuroblastoma.

Epigenetic modifications such as methylation of CpG islands in tumor-suppressor gene promoter regions have been associated with tumor development in many human cancers. Using methylation specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification method, we analyzed the methylation status of 35 different genes in 16 neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines and 50 NB tumor samples (NBs), and investigated whether specific hypermethylation was associated with biological and/or clinical parameters. Among the genes found hypermethylated, the effect of GSTP1 hypermethylation on mRNA and protein expression was also explored.

Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) inhibition transforms human mammary gland epithelial cells.

Carriers of mutations in the cell cycle checkpoint protein kinase ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), which represent 1-2% of the general population, have an increased risk of breast cancer. However, experimental evidence that ATM deficiency contributes to human breast carcinogenesis is lacking. We report here that in MCF-10A and MCF-12A cells, which are well established normal human mammary gland epithelial cell models, partial or almost complete stable ATM silencing or pharmacological inhibition resulted in cellular transformation, genomic instability, and formation of dysplastic lesions in NOD/SCID mice.

Prevalence of burnout among Swiss cancer clinicians, paediatricians and general practitioners: who are most at risk?

Goals Of Work: Increasing economical and administrative constraints and changes in health-care systems constitute a risk for burnout, especially for cancer physicians. However, little is known about differences across medical specialties and the importance of work characteristics.

Methods: A postal questionnaire addressing burnout, psychiatric morbidity, sociodemographics and work characteristics was administered to 180 cancer physicians, 184 paediatricians and 197 general practitioners in Switzerland.

Detection of ATM gene deletion/duplication by multiplex ligation-dependant probe amplification in childhood lymphoid malignancies: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

ATM gene alterations have been described in various lymphoproliferative malignancies suggesting that ATM contributes to lymphomagenesis. Using multiplex ligation-dependant probe amplification (MLPA), we screened 61 childhood lymphoid malignancies for ATM genomic deletion/duplication. Five samples were found to have a complete deletion or duplication.

Percutaneous cementoplasty in multiple myeloma: a valuable adjunct for pain control and ambulation maintenance.

Goals Of Work: Bone pain and functional impairment are major concerns for multiple myeloma (MM) patients. The goal of this study was to better define the role of percutaneous cementoplasty (PC) in improving their quality of life.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective analysis included 28 consecutive heavily pretreated MM patients managed at our institution between 1996 and 2002.

Survival after bilateral breast cancer: results from a population-based study.

Background: Controversy exists on the impact of bilaterality of breast cancer on survival. We used population-based data to compare survival of women with unilateral versus bilateral breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: At the Geneva cancer registry, we identified all 7,912 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1970 and 2002.

Tumor location of the lower-inner quadrant is associated with an impaired survival for women with early-stage breast cancer.

Background: There is growing evidence that tumors of the inner quadrants (especially the lower-inner quadrant) metastasize more often to the internal mammary chain (IMC). As these metastases are not investigated, patients with lower-inner quadrant tumors have an increased risk of being under-staged and under-treated and may therefore have a higher risk of death from breast cancer.

Methods: We identified all 1522 women operated for stage I breast cancer between 1984 and 2002 recorded at the population-based Geneva Cancer Registry.

Twenty-three novel BRCA1 and BRCA2 sequence variations identified in a cohort of Swiss breast and ovarian cancer families.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the major genes predisposing to breast-ovarian cancer (i.e., breast or ovarian cancer or both).

Complete excision of primary breast tumor improves survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis.

Purpose: Surgery of the primary tumor usually is not advised for patients with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis because the disease is considered incurable. In this population-based study, we evaluate the impact of local surgery on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis.

Methods: We included all 300 metastatic breast cancer patients recorded at the Geneva Cancer Registry between 1977 and 1996.

ATM alterations in childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

ATM gene alterations and impaired ATM protein expression have been described in various adult lymphoproliferative malignancies, suggesting that ATM contributes to lymphomagenesis. The present study investigated the prevalence of ATM gene and ATM protein expression alterations in sporadic childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Twenty-seven cases of NHL were screened for ATM mutations by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC).

A role for atm in E-cadherin-mediated contact inhibition in epithelial cells.

Ataxia telangiectasia is a hereditary pleiomorphic syndrome caused by loss of Atm, a phosphoprotein involved in multiple signaling pathways. Here, we propose a novel role for atm in cultured epithelial cells, namely the regulation of cell growth by contact inhibition. We show that atm is upregulated in epithelial cells reaching confluence.

ATM promoter analysis in childhood lymphoid malignancies: a brief communication.

ATM promoter hypermethylation has been recently reported in adult carcinomas, but no information is available concerning the methylation status of ATM gene promoter in childhood B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Furthermore, involvement of somatic ATM promoter mutations in cancer is not known. We report a complete ATM gene promoter analysis in 74 childhood lymphoid malignancies.

Patients' refusal of surgery strongly impairs breast cancer survival.

Objective: To compare patient and tumor characteristics and survival between women who refused and women who accepted surgery for breast cancer.

Summary Background Data: Surgery represents the central component of curative breast cancer treatment, but some women decide not to undergo surgery. Recent studies on the prognosis of non operated breast cancer are nonexistent.

Survival of young and older breast cancer patients in Geneva from 1990 to 2001.

The effect of age on breast cancer survival is still a matter of controversy. Breast cancer in young women is thought to be more aggressive and to have worse prognosis but results from clinical research have been neither consistent nor definitive. In this study, we have assessed the impact of young age at diagnosis on tumor characteristics, treatment and survival of breast cancer.

Swiss primary care physicians' knowledge, attitudes and perception towards genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer.

Purpose: The Swiss Institute for Applied Cancer Research's (SIAK) Network for Cancer Predisposition Testing and Counseling was established in 1999. To define its role in the care of individuals with inherited cancer predisposition, attitudes, knowledge and perception of primary care physicians towards genetic counseling and testing for hereditary breast cancer were examined.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 1391 primary care physicians in private practice in the German-speaking Canton of Zürich.