Purpose: This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of post-traumatic growth (PTG) among adolescents having mothers diagnosed with breast cancer and the relationship between PTG and cancer-related communication with breast cancer survivors.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymous self-report questionnaires with breast cancer survivors and adolescent children. PTG in adolescents was measured using the Japanese version of the revised PTG Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R-J).
Aim: Postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) is the standard treatment for locally advanced breast cancer. However, the effectiveness of PMRT in patients with pT1-2 and N1 tumours remains controversial. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prognostic impact of PMRT in patients with breast cancer and with pT1-2 and 1-3 lymph node metastases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Eribulin therapy has been reported to prolong overall survival (OS) but not progression-free survival, probably because it prevents the development of metastatic lesions; however, this effect has not yet been confirmed.
Methods: We reviewed the medical charts of 50 patients with metastatic breast cancer who underwent eribulin monotherapy at our hospital between 2014 and 2019. Patients were divided into two groups, namely, those who discontinued eribulin because of disease progression due to development of new lesions (NL group) and those who discontinued eribulin for other reasons, such as lesion growth and unacceptable side effects (non-NL group).
Background: Surgical treatment of breast cancer patients aged 85 years or older is still controversial.
Methods: A series of surgically treated breast cancer patients aged 85 years or older was evaluated. The clinicopathological features and outcomes of these patients were compared with the features and outcomes of breast cancer patients in the same age group who were managed without surgery.
Aim: Anxiety and its correlates in parents of patients with breast cancer have rarely been studied. We explored anxiety among parents of postoperative patients with breast cancer and its relationship with parents' social support and care needs and patients' anxiety.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey using self-report questionnaires and medical records was conducted among patients with breast cancer after surgery and their parents at four designated cancer care hospitals between September 2015 and June 2016.
Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are expanded in the CSC niche by increased frequency of symmetric cell divisions at the expense of asymmetric cell divisions. The symmetric division of CSCs is important for the malignant properties of cancer; however, underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely elusive. Here, we show a cytokine, semaphorin 3 (Sema3), produced from the CSC niche, induces symmetric divisions of CSCs to expand the CSC population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4 and CDK6 inhibitors are effective therapeutic options for hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced breast cancer. Although CDK4/6 inhibitors mainly target the cyclin D-CDK4/6-retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (RB) axis, little is known about the clinical impact of inhibiting phosphorylation of other CDK4/6 target proteins. Here, we focused on other CDK4/6 targets, SMAD proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreast cancer remains a common malignancy in women, but the take-up for breast cancer screening programs in Japan is still low, possibly due to its perceived inconvenience. TFF1 and TFF3 are expressed in both breast cancer tissue and normal breast. Serum trefoil proteins were reported as cancer screening markers for gastric, prostate, lung, pancreatic cancer and cholangio carcinoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells do not express estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Currently, apart from poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors, there are few effective therapeutic options for this type of cancer. Here, we present comprehensive characterization of the genetic alterations in TNBC performed by high coverage whole genome sequencing together with transcriptome and whole exome sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 2014, the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) reported that post-mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) for breast cancer patients with 1-3 cancer-positive lymph nodes is associated with a survival benefit. However, it is not known whether this applies to Japanese patients in daily clinical practice, because this conclusion was based on the results of older, western trials. Therefore, we studied the differences between PMRT results in western breast cancer patients and current practice in Japanese patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its reverse process, mesenchymal-epithelial transition MET, are crucial in several stages of cancer metastasis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition allows cancer cells to move to proximal blood vessels for intravasation. However, because EMT and MET processes are dynamic, mesenchymal cancer cells are likely to undergo MET transiently and subsequently re-undergo EMT to restart the metastatic process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) has been used to yield an absolute measure of nucleic acid concentrations. Recently, a new method referred to as droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has gained attention as a more precise and less subjective assay to quantify DNA amplification. We demonstrated the usefulness of ddPCR to determine HER2 gene amplification of breast cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Virtual Touch tissue quantification (VTTQ) is a promising new technology that quantitatively determines the stiffness of tissue. However, the clinical impact of this device on the assessment of breast cancer is unclear.
Methods: This study aimed to review the ultrasound records of patients with breast lesions where VTTQ was used to assess 123 normal breast tissues, 18 benign tumors, and 117 histopathologically confirmed breast cancers in a total of 129 patients.
Background: The management of cancer in the axillary area depends on the etiology of the tumor.
Case Report: A 37-year-old woman presented with a 2 cm mass in the axillary fossa. Core needle biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in humans. However, our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis in breast tissues is limited. Here, we identified a molecular mechanism that controls the ability of breast cancer cells to form multicellular spheroids (mammospheres).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To study the three-dimensional movement of internal tumor bed fiducial and breast skin markers, using 320-multislice computed tomography (CT); and to analyze intrafractional errors for breast cancer patients undergoing breast irradiation.
Methods And Materials: This study examined 280 markers on the skin of the breast (200 markers) and on the primary tumor bed (80 markers) of 20 patients treated by external-beam photon radiotherapy. Motion assessment was analyzed in 41 respiratory phases during 20 s of cine CT in the radiotherapy position.
Sentinel lymph node biopsy has become a standard component of the evaluation of early-stage breast cancer, with a gradually increasing number of indications in this patient population. This report presents the case of a patient who underwent reoperative sentinel lymph node biopsy as part of an evaluation of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence; she had previously undergone axillary lymph node dissection. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy showed aberrant lymphatic drainage, and all three sentinel lymph nodes were positive for cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The impact of sentinel lymph node biopsy on breast cancer mimicking ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a matter of debate.
Methods: We studied the rate of occurrence of sentinel lymph node metastasis in 255 breast cancer patients with pure DCIS showing no invasive components on routine pathological examination. We compared this to the rate of occurrence in 177 patients with predominant intraductal-component (IDC) breast cancers containing invasive foci equal to or less than 0.
Mammary hamartoma is an infrequent, nonmalignant lesion. Only 12 cases of carcinomas associated with a hamartoma have been previously documented in the literature. We describe a case of invasive ductal carcinoma arising in the mammary hamartoma during the follow-up period of a previously diagnosed hamartoma.
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