Clinical response to chemotherapy in oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients is linked to defects in mitochondria.

Chemotherapeutic drugs kill cancer cells, but it is unclear why this happens in responding patients but not in non-responders. Proteomic profiles of patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma may be helpful in predicting response and selecting more effective treatment strategies. In this study, pretherapeutic oesophageal adenocarcinoma biopsies were analysed for proteomic changes associated with response to chemotherapy by MALDI imaging mass spectrometry.

The impact of cysteine-rich intestinal protein 1 (CRIP1) in human breast cancer.

Background: CRIP1 (cysteine-rich intestinal protein 1) has been found in several tumor types, its prognostic impact and its role in cellular processes, particularly in breast cancer, are still unclear.

Methods: To elucidate the prognostic impact of CRIP1, we analyzed tissues from 113 primary invasive ductal breast carcinomas using immunohistochemistry. For the functional characterization of CRIP1, its endogenous expression was transiently downregulated in T47D and BT474 breast cancer cells and the effects analyzed by immunoblotting, WST-1 proliferation assay and invasion assay.

Effects of simultaneous knockdown of HER2 and PTK6 on malignancy and tumor progression in human breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women of the Western world. One prominent feature of breast cancer is the co- and overexpression of HER2 and protein tyrosine kinase 6 (PTK6). According to the current clinical cancer therapy guidelines, HER2-overexpressing tumors are routinely treated with trastuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting HER2.

Radiation resistance due to high expression of miR-21 and G2/M checkpoint arrest in breast cancer cells.

Background: There is evidence that the extent of the G2/M arrest following irradiation is correlated with tumour cell survival and hence therapeutic success. We studied the regulation of cellular response to radiation treatment by miR-21-mediated modulation of cell cycle progression in breast cancer cells and analysed miR-21 expression in breast cancer tissue samples with long-term follow up.

Methods: The miR-21 expression levels were quantified (qRT-PCR) in a panel of 86 cases of invasive breast carcinomas in relation to metastasis free survival.

Nucleic acids from long-term preserved FFPE tissues are suitable for downstream analyses.

Tissues used for clinical diagnostics are mostly formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) which provides many advantages. However, the quality of the obtained nucleic acids (NA) is reduced and this turns out to be a challenge for further molecular analyses. Although the spectrum of analyses of NA extracted from FFPE tissue has increased, the standard operating procedures for NA isolation from old tissue blocks still need to be improved.

Impact of protein tyrosine kinase 6 (PTK6) on human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) signalling in breast cancer.

PTK6, also known as Brk, is highly expressed in over 80% of breast cancers. In the last decade several substrates and interaction partners were identified localising PTK6 downstream of HER receptors. PTK6 seems to be involved in progression of breast tumours, in particular in HER receptor signalling.