A concept of a MIABIS based register of biosample collections at the Medical University of Innsbruck.

The knowledge about the quality of samples and associated clinical data in biospecimen collections is a premise of clinical research. An electronic biosample register aims to facilitate the discovery of information about biosample collections in a hospital. Moreover, it might improve scientific collaboration and research quality through a shared access to harmonized sample collection description data.

Significant survival impact of MACC1 polymorphisms in HER2 positive breast cancer patients.

Background: Deregulation of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (MET) signalling has been associated with poor clinical outcome in breast cancer and other cancers. The recently discovered metastasis-associated in colon cancer-1 (MACC1) gene is a key regulator of the HGF/MET pathway. Potential links between genetic variants of the MACC1 gene and survival in breast cancer patients are unknown.

Association of a common genetic variant of the IGF-1 gene with event-free survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Purpose: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) stimulates mitosis and inhibits apoptosis. High circulating IGF-1 levels are linked with an increased risk of colorectal and breast cancer. Recently, IGF-1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), especially variant rs2946834, have been associated with poor clinical outcome in patients with colorectal cancer.

DNA ploidy, nuclear size, proliferation index and DNA-hypomethylation in ovarian cancer.

Objective: The present study was undertaken to analyze the impact of epigenetic alterations with a main focus on nuclear area, aneuploidy, hyperploidy, and proliferation in 70 ovarian cancer specimens.

Methods: Morphometric changes and somatic chromosomal ploidy status were assessed by Feulgen spectrophotometry. DNA-hypomethylation of LINE1 repeats was analyzed by means of MethyLight PCR, and methylation levels of satellite 2 (Sat2) and satellite alpha (Satα) DNA sequences in chromosome 1 were measured by Southern blot analysis.

Age-dependent DNA methylation of genes that are suppressed in stem cells is a hallmark of cancer.

Polycomb group proteins (PCGs) are involved in repression of genes that are required for stem cell differentiation. Recently, it was shown that promoters of PCG target genes (PCGTs) are 12-fold more likely to be methylated in cancer than non-PCGTs. Age is the most important demographic risk factor for cancer, and we hypothesized that its carcinogenic potential may be referred by irreversibly stabilizing stem cell features.