Activation of a cGAS-STING-mediated immune response predicts response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer.

Background: The DNA-damage immune-response (DDIR) signature is an immune-driven gene expression signature retrospectively validated as predicting response to anthracycline-based therapy. This feasibility study prospectively evaluates the use of this assay to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in early breast cancer.

Methods: This feasibility study assessed the integration of a novel biomarker into clinical workflows.

Renal failure parathyroidectomy - Is pre-operative imaging worthwhile?

Background: Tertiary hyperparathyroidism is a significant issue in renal failure patients and some require surgery to control their serum calcium. A number of imaging techniques are used to localise the position of the parathyroid glands prior to surgery. Currently, a combination of ultrasound and isotope preoperative localisation imaging is accepted as useful in parathyroid surgery for primary disease.

Molecular classification of non-invasive breast lesions for personalised therapy and chemoprevention.

Breast cancer screening has led to a dramatic increase in the detection of pre-invasive breast lesions. While mastectomy is almost guaranteed to treat the disease, more conservative approaches could be as effective if patients can be stratified based on risk of co-existing or recurrent invasive disease.Here we use a range of biomarkers to interrogate and classify purely non-invasive lesions (PNL) and those with co-existing invasive breast cancer (CEIN).

The prognostic significance of the aberrant extremes of p53 immunophenotypes in breast cancer.

Aims: The utility of p53 as a prognostic assay has been elusive. The aims of this study were to describe a novel, reproducible scoring system and assess the relationship between differential p53 immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression patterns, TP53 mutation status and patient outcomes in breast cancer.

Methods And Results: Tissue microarrays were used to study p53 IHC expression patterns: expression was defined as extreme positive (EP), extreme negative (EN), and non-extreme (NE; intermediate patterns).

BRCA1 is both a prognostic and predictive biomarker of response to chemotherapy in sporadic epithelial ovarian cancer.

Objectives: We investigated the relationship between BRCA1 protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and clinical outcome following platinum and platinum/taxane chemotherapy in sporadic epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Methods: BRCA1 IHC was performed on a cohort of 292 ovarian tumours from two UK oncology centres. BRCA1 protein expression levels were correlated with overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and clinical response to chemotherapy by multivariate analysis.

In vivo evidence for the role of CD44s in promoting breast cancer metastasis to the liver.

The hyaluronan receptor CD44 plays an important role in facilitating invasion and metastasis of a variety of tumors, including breast carcinomas. CD44 functions as a bioactive signaling transmitter. Although a number of studies have implicated CD44 in breast tumor invasion, the evidence is still circumstantial.

BRCA1 and c-Myc associate to transcriptionally repress psoriasin, a DNA damage-inducible gene.

Evidence is accumulating to suggest that some of the diverse functions associated with BRCA1 may relate to its ability to transcriptionally regulate key downstream target genes. Here, we identify S100A7 (psoriasin), S100A8, and S100A9, members of the S100A family of calcium-binding proteins, as novel BRCA1-repressed targets. We show that functional BRCA1 is required for repression of these family members and that a BRCA1 disease-associated mutation abrogates BRCA1-mediated repression of psoriasin.