Novel Insights: A Novel PHIP Variant in a Family with Severe Early-Onset Obesity.

Introduction: Severe childhood obesity can be caused by pathogenic variants in several genes involved in monogenic and syndromic obesity. Recently, heterozygous variants in pleckstrin homology domain interacting protein (PHIP) have been identified in patients with obesity as part of Chung-Jansen syndrome.

Case Presentation: The index patient is a 5-year-old boy with severe obesity since 1 year of age, developmental delay, facial dysmorphism, and behavior problems.

Comprehensive Inherited Risk Estimation for Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening in Women.

Purpose: Family history (FH) and pathogenic variants (PVs) are used for guiding risk surveillance in selected high-risk women but little is known about their impact for breast cancer screening on population level. In addition, polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been shown to efficiently stratify breast cancer risk through combining information about common genetic factors into one measure.

Methods: In longitudinal real-life data, we evaluate PRS, FH, and PVs for stratified screening.

Genome-wide association analysis of more than 120,000 individuals identifies 15 new susceptibility loci for breast cancer.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and large-scale replication studies have identified common variants in 79 loci associated with breast cancer, explaining ∼14% of the familial risk of the disease. To identify new susceptibility loci, we performed a meta-analysis of 11 GWAS, comprising 15,748 breast cancer cases and 18,084 controls together with 46,785 cases and 42,892 controls from 41 studies genotyped on a 211,155-marker custom array (iCOGS). Analyses were restricted to women of European ancestry.

MicroRNA related polymorphisms and breast cancer risk.

Genetic variations, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in microRNAs (miRNA) or in the miRNA binding sites may affect the miRNA dependent gene expression regulation, which has been implicated in various cancers, including breast cancer, and may alter individual susceptibility to cancer. We investigated associations between miRNA related SNPs and breast cancer risk. First we evaluated 2,196 SNPs in a case-control study combining nine genome wide association studies (GWAS).

Identification and characterization of novel associations in the CASP8/ALS2CR12 region on chromosome 2 with breast cancer risk.

Previous studies have suggested that polymorphisms in CASP8 on chromosome 2 are associated with breast cancer risk. To clarify the role of CASP8 in breast cancer susceptibility, we carried out dense genotyping of this region in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning a 1 Mb region around CASP8 were genotyped in 46 450 breast cancer cases and 42 600 controls of European origin from 41 studies participating in the BCAC as part of a custom genotyping array experiment (iCOGS).

Alcohol consumption and survival after a breast cancer diagnosis: a literature-based meta-analysis and collaborative analysis of data for 29,239 cases.

Background: Evidence for an association of alcohol consumption with prognosis after a diagnosis of breast cancer has been inconsistent. We have reviewed and summarized the published evidence and evaluated the association using individual patient data from multiple case cohorts.

Methods: A MEDLINE search to identify studies published up to January 2013 was performed.

Functional variants at the 11q13 risk locus for breast cancer regulate cyclin D1 expression through long-range enhancers.

Analysis of 4,405 variants in 89,050 European subjects from 41 case-control studies identified three independent association signals for estrogen-receptor-positive tumors at 11q13. The strongest signal maps to a transcriptional enhancer element in which the G allele of the best candidate causative variant rs554219 increases risk of breast cancer, reduces both binding of ELK4 transcription factor and luciferase activity in reporter assays, and may be associated with low cyclin D1 protein levels in tumors. Another candidate variant, rs78540526, lies in the same enhancer element.

Genome-wide association studies identify four ER negative-specific breast cancer risk loci.

Estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors represent 20-30% of all breast cancers, with a higher proportion occurring in younger women and women of African ancestry. The etiology and clinical behavior of ER-negative tumors are different from those of tumors expressing ER (ER positive), including differences in genetic predisposition. To identify susceptibility loci specific to ER-negative disease, we combined in a meta-analysis 3 genome-wide association studies of 4,193 ER-negative breast cancer cases and 35,194 controls with a series of 40 follow-up studies (6,514 cases and 41,455 controls), genotyped using a custom Illumina array, iCOGS, developed by the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS).

Large-scale genotyping identifies 41 new loci associated with breast cancer risk.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Common variants at 27 loci have been identified as associated with susceptibility to breast cancer, and these account for ∼9% of the familial risk of the disease. We report here a meta-analysis of 9 genome-wide association studies, including 10,052 breast cancer cases and 12,575 controls of European ancestry, from which we selected 29,807 SNPs for further genotyping.

Effect of image compression and scaling on automated scoring of immunohistochemical stainings and segmentation of tumor epithelium.

Background: Digital whole-slide scanning of tissue specimens produces large images demanding increasing storing capacity. To reduce the need of extensive data storage systems image files can be compressed and scaled down. The aim of this article is to study the effect of different levels of image compression and scaling on automated image analysis of immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings and automated tumor segmentation.

Low penetrance breast cancer susceptibility loci are associated with specific breast tumor subtypes: findings from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

Breast cancers demonstrate substantial biological, clinical and etiological heterogeneity. We investigated breast cancer risk associations of eight susceptibility loci identified in GWAS and two putative susceptibility loci in candidate genes in relation to specific breast tumor subtypes. Subtypes were defined by five markers (ER, PR, HER2, CK5/6, EGFR) and other pathological and clinical features.

Germ-line variation at a functional p53 binding site increases susceptibility to breast cancer development.

Unlabelled: Multiple lines of evidence suggest regulatory variation to play an important role in phenotypic evolution and disease development, but few regulatory polymorphisms have been characterized genetically and molecularly. Recent technological advances have made it possible to identify bona fide regulatory sequences experimentally on a genome-wide scale and opened the window for the biological interrogation of germ-line polymorphisms within these sequences. In this study, through a forward genetic analysis of bona fide p53 binding sites identified by a genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequence analysis, we discovered a SNP (rs1860746) within the motif sequence of a p53 binding site where p53 can function as a regulator of transcription.

Five polymorphisms and breast cancer risk: results from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

Previous studies have suggested that minor alleles for ERCC4 rs744154, TNF rs361525, CASP10 rs13010627, PGR rs1042838, and BID rs8190315 may influence breast cancer risk, but the evidence is inconclusive due to their small sample size. These polymorphisms were genotyped in more than 30,000 breast cancer cases and 30,000 controls, primarily of European descent, from 30 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) as a measure of association.

The breast cancer susceptibility mutation PALB2 1592delT is associated with an aggressive tumor phenotype.

Purpose: To determine the effect of the breast cancer susceptibility mutation PALB2 1592delT on tumor phenotype and patient survival.

Experimental Design: We defined the PALB2 mutation status in 947 familial and 1,274 sporadic breast cancer patients and 1,079 population controls, and compared tumor characteristics and survival in mutation carriers relative to other familial and sporadic cases and to 79 BRCA1 and 104 BRCA2 mutation carrier cases.

Results: The PALB2 1592delT mutation was found in 19 familial [2.

Aberrations of the MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 DNA damage sensor complex in human breast cancer: MRE11 as a candidate familial cancer-predisposing gene.

The MRE11, RAD50, and NBS1 genes encode proteins of the MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex critical for proper maintenance of genomic integrity and tumour suppression; however, the extent and impact of their cancer-predisposing defects, and potential clinical value remain to be determined. Here, we report that among a large series of approximately 1000 breast carcinomas, around 3%, 7% and 10% tumours showed aberrantly reduced protein expression for RAD50, MRE11 and NBS1, respectively. Such defects were more frequent among the ER/PR/ERBB2 triple-negative and higher-grade tumours, among familial (especially BRCA1/BRCA2-associated) rather than sporadic cases, and the NBS1 defects correlated with shorter patients' survival.

No evidence that GATA3 rs570613 SNP modifies breast cancer risk.

GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3) is a transcription factor that is crucial to mammary gland morphogenesis and differentiation of progenitor cells, and has been suggested to have a tumor suppressor function. The rs570613 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in intron 4 of GATA3 was previously found to be associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk in the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility project and in pooled analysis of two case-control studies from Norway and Poland (P (trend) = 0.004), with some evidence for a stronger association with estrogen receptor (ER) negative tumours [Garcia-Closas M et al.

NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 NQO1*2 genotype (P187S) is a strong prognostic and predictive factor in breast cancer.

NQO1 guards against oxidative stress and carcinogenesis and stabilizes p53. We find that a homozygous common missense variant (NQO1(*)2, rs1800566(T), NM_000903.2:c.

Heterogeneity of breast cancer associations with five susceptibility loci by clinical and pathological characteristics.

A three-stage genome-wide association study recently identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five loci (fibroblast growth receptor 2 (FGFR2), trinucleotide repeat containing 9 (TNRC9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 K1 (MAP3K1), 8q24, and lymphocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1)) associated with breast cancer risk. We investigated whether the associations between these SNPs and breast cancer risk varied by clinically important tumor characteristics in up to 23,039 invasive breast cancer cases and 26,273 controls from 20 studies. We also evaluated their influence on overall survival in 13,527 cases from 13 studies.

Familial breast cancers without mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 have low cyclin E and high cyclin D1 in contrast to cancers in BRCA mutation carriers.

Purpose: We analyzed the expression of critical cell cycle regulators cyclin E and cyclin D1 in familial breast cancer, focusing on BRCA mutation-negative tumors. Cyclin E expression in tumors of BRCA1 or BRCA2 carriers is higher, and cyclin D1 expression lower, than in sporadic tumors. In familial non-BRCA1/2 tumors, cyclin E and cyclin D1 expression has not been studied.

Cyclin D1 expression is associated with poor prognostic features in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer.

Cyclins D1 and E play an important role in breast carcinogenesis. High cyclin E expression is common in hormone receptor negative and high grade aggressive breast cancer, whereas cyclin D1 in hormone receptor positive and low grade breast cancer. Experimental data has suggested that cyclin D1 and E mediate cell proliferation by different mechanisms in estrogen receptor (ER) positive and negative breast cancer.

Combined effect of CCND1 and COMT polymorphisms and increased breast cancer risk.

Background: Estrogens are crucial tumorigenic hormones, which impact the cell growth and proliferation during breast cancer development. Estrogens are metabolized by a series of enzymes including COMT, which converts catechol estrogens into biologically non-hazardous methoxyestrogens. Several studies have also shown the relationship between estrogen and cell cycle progression through activation of CCND1 transcription.

Prognostic role of HuR in hereditary breast cancer.

Purpose: HuR is an mRNA-binding protein that enhances the stability of certain transcripts and can regulate their translation. Elevated cytoplasmic expression of HuR protein has been linked to carcinogenesis and is associated with reduced survival in breast, ovarian, and gastric adenocarcinomas.

Experimental Design: Here, we have explored the relevance of HuR in familial breast cancer.

Mast cells and eosinophils in invasive breast carcinoma.

Background: Inflammatory cells in the tumour stroma has gained increasing interest recently. Thus, we aimed to study the frequency and prognostic impact of stromal mast cells and tumour infiltrating eosinophils in invasive breast carcinomas.

Methods: Tissue microarrays containing 234 cases of invasive breast cancer were prepared and analysed for the presence of stromal mast cells and eosinophils.

A common coding variant in CASP8 is associated with breast cancer risk.

The Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) has been established to conduct combined case-control analyses with augmented statistical power to try to confirm putative genetic associations with breast cancer. We genotyped nine SNPs for which there was some prior evidence of an association with breast cancer: CASP8 D302H (rs1045485), IGFBP3 -202 C --> A (rs2854744), SOD2 V16A (rs1799725), TGFB1 L10P (rs1982073), ATM S49C (rs1800054), ADH1B 3' UTR A --> G (rs1042026), CDKN1A S31R (rs1801270), ICAM5 V301I (rs1056538) and NUMA1 A794G (rs3750913). We included data from 9-15 studies, comprising 11,391-18,290 cases and 14,753-22,670 controls.

Temozolomide treatment in glioma--experiences in two university hospitals in Finland.

Thirty-two patients with relapsing glioma were treated with temozolomide in two university hospitals in Finland. One patient (3%) had complete response and 9 (28%) partial response, with 8 patients (25%) showing stable disease. Median progression-free survival for these 18 patients (56%) was 7 months (range 2-11+).