A microfluidics platform for combinatorial drug screening on cancer biopsies.

Screening drugs on patient biopsies from solid tumours has immense potential, but is challenging due to the small amount of available material. To address this, we present here a plug-based microfluidics platform for functional screening of drug combinations. Integrated Braille valves allow changing the plug composition on demand and enable collecting >1200 data points (56 different conditions with at least 20 replicates each) per biopsy.

Plasma S100P level as a novel prognostic marker of metastatic breast cancer.

Unlabelled: Metastasis is the main cause of death in breast cancer patients. The development of reliable and cost-effective biomarker to evaluate the prognosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients is of great importance. S100P is a member of S100 family and has been proved to be associated with metastasis establishment.

Circulating miRNAs with prognostic value in metastatic breast cancer and for early detection of metastasis.

Metastasis is the principal cause of high morbidity and mortality among breast cancer (BC) patients. Identification of markers that can be routinely monitored to predict onset of metastasis in BC patients and prognosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients would increase their median survival. In this study, plasma miRNAs of 40 MBC patients were profiled by TaqMan low density arrays and miRNAs with prognostic capacity were identified.

Plasma hyaluronic acid level as a prognostic and monitoring marker of metastatic breast cancer.

Conventional tumor markers have limited value for prognostication and treatment monitoring in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients and novel circulating tumor markers therefore need to be explored. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a major macropolysaccharide in the extracellular matrix and is reported to be associated with tumor progression. In our study, we investigated plasma HA level with respect to progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), as well as the treatment monitoring value in MBC patients.

Serial enumeration of circulating tumor cells predicts treatment response and prognosis in metastatic breast cancer: a prospective study in 393 patients.

Background: To prospectively assess circulating tumor cell (CTC) status at baseline (CTCBL) and after one cycle of a new line of systemic therapy (CTC1C), and changes from CTCBL to CTC1C (CTC kinetics, CTCKIN) for their utility in predicting response, progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Methods: CTCBL and CTC1C status was determined as negative (-) or positive (+) for < 5 or ≥ 5 CTCs/7.5 ml blood using CellSearch™ (Veridex).

Biosynthetic and functional defects in newly identified SLC4A11 mutants and absence of COL8A2 mutations in Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy.

Late-onset Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) shows genetic heterogeneity. Identification of SLC4A11 as a candidate gene for congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy with similar corneal endothelial defects as FECD and reduced mRNA expression of SLC4A11 in the endothelium of FECD cases suggested that this gene may also be involved in pathogenesis of FECD. Mutations in SLC4A11 give rise to SLC4A11 protein marked by retention in the endoplasmic reticulum as a result of mis-folding.

Plasma DNA integrity as a biomarker for primary and metastatic breast cancer and potential marker for early diagnosis.

Circulating or cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has been evaluated as a biomarker in many cancers including breast cancer. In particular, integrity of cfDNA has been shown to be altered in cancers. We have estimated the biomarker potential of cfDNA in primary (PBC) and metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Plasma microRNA panel for minimally invasive detection of breast cancer.

Over the last few years, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as promising novel and minimally invasive markers for various diseases, including cancer. We already showed that certain miRNAs are deregulated in the plasma of breast cancer patients when compared to healthy women. Herein we have further explored their potential to serve as breast cancer early detection markers in blood plasma.

Cancer diagnosis and prognosis decoded by blood-based circulating microRNA signatures.

In the recent years, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have garnered a lot of attention and interest in the field of disease biomarkers. With characteristics such as high stability, low cost, possibility of repeated sampling and minimal invasiveness, circulating miRNAs are ideal for development into diagnostic tests. There have been many studies reported on the potential of circulating miRNAs as early detection, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in cancer.

Circulating miRNAs as surrogate markers for circulating tumor cells and prognostic markers in metastatic breast cancer.

Purpose: The use of circulating tumor cells (CTC) as a prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has been well established. However, their efficacy and accuracy are still under scrutiny mainly because of methods of their enrichment and identification. We hypothesized that circulating miRNAs can predict the CTC status of patients with MBC, and tested for the same.

Circulating microRNAs in plasma as early detection markers for breast cancer.

In recent years, circulating miRNAs have attracted a great deal of attention as promising novel markers for various diseases. Here, we investigated their potential to serve as minimally invasive, early detection markers for breast cancer in blood plasma. We profiled miRNAs extracted from the plasma of early stage breast cancer patients (taken at the time-point of diagnosis) and healthy control individuals using TaqMan low-density arrays (TLDA).