Breast cancer management in middle-resource countries (MRCs): consensus statement from the Breast Health Global Initiative.

In middle resource countries (MRCs), cancer control programs are becoming a priority as the pattern of disease shifts from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases such as breast cancer, the most common cancer among women in MRCs. The Middle Resource Scenarios Working Group of the BHGI 2010 Global Summit met to identify common issues and obstacles to breast cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment in MRCs. They concluded that breast cancer early detection programs continue to be important, should include clinical breast examination (CBE) with or without mammography, and should be coupled with active awareness programs.

Tumoral expression of BRCA1, estrogen receptor alpha and ID4 protein in patients with sporadic breast cancer.

Introduction: BRCA1 expression is downregulated in a third of sporadic breast cancers (SBC). Most of the tumors in which BRCA1 function is diminished do not express estrogen receptor alpha (ER). Recent studies suggest that the inhibitor of DNA binding (ID)-4 could participate in the hormonal regulation of BRCA1 expression.

Hereditary breast cancer associated with a germline BRCA2 mutation in identical female twins with similar disease expression.

The relative contribution of heritable and nonheritable factors to disease expression in BRCA2 mutation carriers is largely unknown. This report describes a familial breast cancer syndrome in a pair of identical female twins. These twins showed an extremely high concordance in their clinical histories; both twins exhibited similar cancer-related risk factors, and developed breast cancer at the same age with the same disease stage and identical histological features.