Predictive role of midtreatment changes in survivin, GSTP1, and topoisomerase 2α expressions for pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer.

Introduction: The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effect of change in the expression levels of survivin, glutathione-S-transferase P1 (GSTP1), and topoisomerase 2α (TOP2A) on the response to antracyclin-based and taxane-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: This study included 32 locally advanced breast cancer patients. Tumoral expressions of survivin, TOP2A, and GSTP1 in serial biopsy specimens obtained before treatment, after sequential 4 cycles of doxorubicin+cyclophosphomide, and 4 cycles of docetaxel were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Analysis of β-catenin alterations in colon tumors: a novel exon 3 mutation.

The great majority of colorectal cancers have defects in the Wnt signaling pathway indicating that this pathway has an important role in carcinogenesis. Alterations in the β-catenin gene are observed in 10-50% of the patients with colorectal cancer. Mutations of the β-catenin gene frequently occur in a region coding the protein phosphorylation domain harboring the Ser33/37/Thr41 and Ser45 sites and the inhibition of phosphorylation.

ARLTS1, MDM2 and RAD51 gene variations are associated with familial breast cancer.

Genetic factors that contribute to the risk of breast cancer are largely not known and association studies have revealed several genes with low penetrance risk alleles for breast cancer. Analysis of these genes may provide important information on the risk factors affecting carcinogenesis. Variations in the ARLTS1, RAD51 and MDM2 genes have been associated with increased risk of different cancer types but for breast cancer the results are not consistent.

Investigation of the miR16-1 (C > T) + 7 Substitution in Seven Different Types of Cancer from Three Ethnic Groups.

Background. MicroRNAs are a type of small noncoding RNA molecules that have been shown to control gene expression in eukaryotes. Aberrant expression and alteration of miRNAs may be responsible for human diseases including cancer.

Effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on integrity of free serum DNA in patients with breast cancer.

It is not known how chemotherapy-induced cell death influences the size distribution of circulating free DNA (cf-DNA) in serum or plasma of cancer patients. In the present study, we investigated the integrity of cf-DNA during adjuvant systemic therapy in patients (n= 41) with invasive breast cancer. Sera taken at the beginning and the end of the adjuvant chemotherapy were comparatively analyzed for the integrity of cf-DNA.