Expression and Circulating Levels of Perlecan in Breast Cancer - Implications for Oestrogen Dependent Stromal Remodeling.

Localised breast cancer can be cured by surgery and adjuvant treatments, but mortality remains high as some tumours metastasize early. Perlecan is a basement membrane (BM) protein involved in tumour development and progression. Here, mRNA and protein expression of perlecan, and mRNA expression of matrix degrading enzymes were studied in normal breast and invasive breast cancer, and correlated to prognostic risk factors, in particular oestrogen status.

Early pregnancy sex steroids during primiparous pregnancies and maternal breast cancer: a nested case-control study in the Northern Sweden Maternity Cohort.

Background: Pregnancy and parity are associated with subsequent breast cancer risk. Experimental and epidemiologic data suggest a role for pregnancy sex steroid hormones.

Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study in the Northern Sweden Maternity Cohort (1975-2007).

Free β-human chorionic gonadotropin, total human chorionic gonadotropin and maternal risk of breast cancer.

Background: We investigated whether the free β-human chorionic gonadotropin (free β-hCG) would provide additional information to that provided by total hCG alone and thus be useful in future epidemiological studies relating hCG to maternal breast cancer risk.

Materials & Methods: Cases (n = 159) and controls (n = 286) were a subset of our previous study within the Northern Sweden Maternity Cohort on total hCG during primiparous pregnancy and breast cancer risk.

Results: The associations between total hCG (hazard ratio: 0.