Comparison of fifteen immunoassays for the measurement of serum MUC-1/CA 15-3 in breast cancer patients.

Background: Quality control results for serum MUC-1/CA 15-3 assays have always shown large discrepancies.

Methods: This multicentre study of 15 methods (labelled M1-M15) measured coded sera from 35 patients with breast cancer without recurrence (group 1), 46 patients at 1st metastasis (group 2), and 39 patients with advanced metastases (group 3). Results were compared using parametric statistics, ANOVA, principal component analysis, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.

A soluble lymphocyte activation gene-3 (sLAG-3) protein as a prognostic factor in human breast cancer expressing estrogen or progesterone receptors.

In contrast to the long-held belief that breast cancer is a weakly immunogenic tumor, accumulating evidence indicates an immune infiltrate is an invariable finding in breast cancers, raising hopes that immunotherapy for breast cancers may succeed in targeted patients, specifically those with either regional or minimal residual disease. However, no immunologically related prognostic factor has yet been established that may help to define subsets of patients who are more prone to respond to immunotherapy. High levels of soluble LAG-3 protein (sLAG-3) in sera has previously been shown to be associated, as a Th1 marker, to resistance to tuberculosis in large series of patients.

Longitudinal changes in serum HER-2/neu oncoprotein levels in trastuzumab-treated metastatic breast cancer patients.

Background: To evaluate longitudinal variations of serum HER-2/neu extracellular domain (sHER-2) in metastatic breast cancer patients receiving combined trastuzumab treatment.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-three patients were monitored by serial sHER-2 ELISA (Oncogene Science). Results were compared to time to progression (TTP) and survival from treatment initiation.

Serum HER-2 extracellular domain (ECD) before the first metastasis in 128 breast cancer patients.

We studied the serum HER-2 extracellular domain (sHER-2) before the first metastases in 128/701 breast cancer patients diagnosed and followed-up in our institution who developed metastases as the first relapse. sHER-2 was measured by an enzyme-linked immnunosorbent assay and CA 15.3 by an immunoradiometric assay.

Two prognostic groups of inflammatory breast cancer have distinct genotypes.

Purpose: The prognosis of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) remains poor despite the use of multimodality treatments, with a 10-year survival rate of not >30%. Clinicopathological and biological predictors of outcome are inadequate in this setting. Analysis of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) can provide a molecular portrait of the genetic alterations underlying stepwise cancer progression.

Luteinizing hormone receptor status and clinical, pathologic, and prognostic features in patients with breast carcinomas.

Background: It has been established that pregnancy protects against breast carcinoma, and animal models have shown that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) mimics this effect by inhibiting the initiation and progression of experimental breast carcinoma. Luteinizing hormone (LH)/hCG receptors (LHR) have been characterized in several human breast carcinoma cell lines and in a limited number of breast carcinoma biopsy specimens. These observations led to the suggestion that hCG may be used as a means of prevention and possibly treatment in patients with breast carcinoma.

Evidence of chromosome regions and gene involvement in inflammatory breast cancer.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but particularly aggressive form of primary breast cancer. In contrast to noninflammatory breast cancer (non IBC), the molecular alterations underlying IBC are poorly known. We postulated that the kind and frequency of these alterations might differ between IBC and non IBC and account for its particular aggressiveness.

Correlation between MIB-1 and other proliferation markers: clinical implications of the MIB-1 cutoff value.

Background: Cell proliferation is a major determinant of the biologic behavior of breast carcinoma. MIB-1 monoclonal antibody is a promising tool for determining cell proliferation on routine histologic material. The objectives of this study were to compare MIB-1 evaluation to other methods of measuring cell proliferation, with a view to refining the cutoff used to classify tumors with low and high proliferation rates in therapeutic trials.