Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-obligate precursor to invasive breast cancer. However, if left untreated, about 50% of DCIS progress. Preventing such a progression is of paramount importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCholesterol (CHOL) is a multifaceted lipid molecule. It is an essential structural component of cell membranes, where it cooperates in regulating the intracellular trafficking and signaling pathways. Additionally, it serves as a precursor for vital biomolecules, including steroid hormones, isoprenoids, vitamin D, and bile acids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPotential applications of nanomaterials range from electronics to environmental technology, thus a better understanding of their manufacturing and manipulation is of paramount importance. The present study demonstrates a methodology for the use of metallic nanomaterials as reactants to examine nanoalloying within a transmission electron microscope. The method is further utilised as a starting point of a metallurgical toolbox, to study subsequent alloying of materials by using a nanoscale-sized chemical reactor for nanometallurgy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExplor Target Antitumor Ther
December 2022
The onset and development of breast cancer in postmenopausal women are associated with closely related individual-dependent factors, including weight gain and high levels of circulating androgens. Adipose tissue is the most peripheral site of aromatase enzyme synthesis; therefore, the excessive accumulation of visceral fat results in increased androgens aromatization and estradiol production that provides the microenvironment favorable to tumorigenesis in mammary epithelial cells expressing estrogen receptors (ERs). Moreover, to meet the increased requirement of cholesterol for cell membrane assembly and the production of steroid hormones to sustain their proliferation, ER-positive cells activate cholesterol biosynthesis and subsequent steroidogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Women with extensive mammographic density (MD) are more likely to develop breast cancer than women with low MD because of a high epithelial component associated with a high proportion of stromal cells. To elucidate the biological association between high MD and risk of breast cancer, we compared the expression of a panel of genes coding for leptin, adiponectin, and some component of cell polarity and adherens junction complexes in dense and non-dense breast tissue.
Methods: We interrogated a public dataset composed by 120 specimens of normal breast tissue with MD evaluation.