Multi-candidate immunohistochemical markers to assess radiation response and prognosis in prostate cancer: results from the CHHiP trial of radiotherapy fractionation.

Background: Protein markers of cellular proliferation, hypoxia, apoptosis, cell cycle checkpoints, growth factor signalling and inflammation in localised prostate tumours have previously shown prognostic ability. A translational substudy within the CHHiP trial of radiotherapy fractionation evaluated whether these could improve prediction of prognosis and assist treatment stratification following either conventional or hypofractionated radiotherapy.

Methods: Using case:control methodology, patients with biochemical or clinical failure after radiotherapy (BCR) were matched to patients without recurrence according to established prognostic factors (Gleason score, presenting PSA, tumour-stage) and fractionation schedule.

De novo and cell line models of human mammary cell transformation reveal an essential role for Yb-1 in multiple stages of human breast cancer.

Breast cancer heterogeneity has made it challenging to identify mechanisms critical to the initial stages of their genesis in vivo. Here, we sought to interrogate the role of YB-1 in newly arising human breast cancers as well as in established cell lines. In a first series of experiments, we found that short-hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of YB-1 in MDA-MB-231 cells blocked both their local tumour-forming and lung-colonising activity in immunodeficient mice.

Basal-like Breast Cancers: From Pathology to Biology and Back Again.

Human breast cancers referred to as "basal-like" are of interest because they lack effective therapies and their biology is poorly understood. The term basal-like derives from studies demonstrating tumor gene expression profiles that include some transcripts characteristic of the basal cells of the normal adult human mammary gland and others associated with a subset of normal luminal cells. Elucidating the mechanisms responsible for the profiles of basal-like tumors is an active area of investigation.