Background And Purpose: Standardized time to peak (stdTTP) enables a quick quantification of time to peak measurements. An stdTTP =3.5 seconds is reported to be regular, and evidence suggests that an stdTTP >/=7 seconds indicates critically perfused tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The interleukin 1 (IL-1) system plays an important role in human pathology and is involved in the local control of malignant disease. However, little is known about its expression in breast cancer and its correlation with prognostic parameters such as receptor status and grading.
Experimental Design: The expression of IL-1alpha and other IL-1 family members was analyzed by reverse transcription-PCR, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry in breast cancer cell lines, tumor-derived fibroblasts, and breast cancer tissue biopsies and compared with sex steroid receptor status and grading.
Objectives: The interleukin-1 system is known to play a pivotal role in human physiology and reproduction. In the cycling endometrium, interleukin-1alpha activity is controlled by sex steroids and is confined to the perimenstrual phase, where it is involved in the events leading to tissue lysis and menstruation. Since local tissue degradation is also a feature of malignant tumors, our goal was to analyze the gene expression of interleukin-1alpha and other interleukin-1 family members and compare it with estrogen receptor alpha, estrogen receptor beta, and progesterone receptor mRNA expression in 27 endometrial carcinomas and 13 normal endometria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTissue remodeling is a key element in the local invasion and metastasis of malignant breast tumors. The degradation of extracellular matrix that is associated with this process is thought to be mediated by a number of Zn2+-dependent matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In most cases these enzymes are not produced by the malignant epithelium itself but by adjacent breast stroma, suggesting an important role for cell-cell interactions.
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