Increased PI3K pathway activity is associated with recurrent breast cancer in patients with low and intermediate 21-gene recurrence score.

Aims: We investigated key signalling pathways' activity and mutational status of early-stage breast carcinomas with low and intermediate 21-gene recurrence score (RS) to identify molecular features that may predict recurrence.

Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study of 18 patients with recurrent breast carcinoma with low and intermediate 21-gene RS (<25) and control group of 15 non-recurrent breast cancer patients. DNA and mRNA were extracted from tumour tissue.

Prediction of clinical benefit from androgen deprivation therapy in salivary duct carcinoma patients.

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is first-line palliative treatment in androgen receptor-positive (AR+) salivary duct carcinoma (SDC), and response rates are 17.6-50.0%.

The Association of the Long Prostate Cancer Expressed PDE4D Transcripts to Poor Patient Outcome Depends on the Tumour's TMPRSS2-ERG Fusion Status.

Objectives: To investigate the added value of assessing transcripts for the long cAMP phosphodiesterase-4D (PDE4D) isoforms, PDE4D5 and PDE4D9, regarding the prognostic power of the 'CAPRA & PDE4D7' combination risk model to predict longitudinal postsurgical biological outcomes in prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: RNA was extracted from both biopsy punches of resected tumours (606 patients; RP cohort) and diagnostic needle biopsies (168 patients; DB cohort). RT-qPCR was performed in order to determine PDE4D5, PDE4D7, and PDE4D9 transcript scores in both study cohorts.

The Prognostic PDE4D7 Score in a Diagnostic Biopsy Prostate Cancer Patient Cohort with Longitudinal Biological Outcomes.

To further validate the prognostic power of the biomarker PDE4D7, we investigated the correlation of PDE4D7 scores adjusted for presurgical clinical variables with longitudinal postsurgical biological outcomes. RNA was extracted from biopsy punches of resected tumors (550 patients; RP cohort) and diagnostic needle biopsies (168 patients; DB cohort). Cox regression and survival were applied to correlate PDE4D7 scores with patient outcomes.

Sequencing of human genomes extracted from single cancer cells isolated in a valveless microfluidic device.

Sequencing the genomes of individual cells enables the direct determination of genetic heterogeneity amongst cells within a population. We have developed an injection-moulded valveless microfluidic device in which single cells from colorectal cancer derived cell lines (LS174T, LS180 and RKO) and fresh colorectal tumors have been individually trapped, their genomes extracted and prepared for sequencing using multiple displacement amplification (MDA). Ninety nine percent of the DNA sequences obtained mapped to a reference human genome, indicating that there was effectively no contamination of these samples from non-human sources.