A prospective, controlled study of the botanical compound mixture LCS101 for chemotherapy-induced hematological complications in breast cancer.

Background: This prospective, controlled study evaluated the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the mixture of botanical compounds known as LCS101 in preventing chemotherapy-induced hematological toxicity in breast cancer patients.

Methods: Female patients diagnosed with localized breast cancer were randomly allocated to receive treatment with either LCS101 or placebo capsules, in addition to conventional chemotherapy. The study intervention was initiated 2 weeks prior to the initiation of chemotherapy and continued until chemotherapy was completed, with participants receiving 2 g of LCS101 capsules thrice daily.

Inflammatory mediators in breast cancer: coordinated expression of TNFα & IL-1β with CCL2 & CCL5 and effects on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Background: The inflammatory chemokines CCL2 (MCP-1) & CCL5 (RANTES) and the inflammatory cytokines TNFα & IL-1β were shown to contribute to breast cancer development and metastasis. In this study, we wished to determine whether there are associations between these factors along stages of breast cancer progression, and to identify the possible implications of these factors to disease course.

Methods: The expression of CCL2, CCL5, TNFα and IL-1β was determined by immunohistochemistry in patients diagnosed with: (1) Benign breast disorders (=healthy individuals); (2) Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS); (3) Invasive Ducal Carcinoma without relapse (IDC-no-relapse); (4) IDC-with-relapse.

Invasive breast cancer treated with taxol and epirubicin neo-adjuvant chemotherapy: the role in the outcome of the "crosstalk" between Erb receptors and p53.

Purpose: To correlate p53 and ErbB receptors status with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in locally advanced breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Sixty patients were included in a single-center, open-label, phase II trial (1998-2003). Analysis of Erb receptors and p53 status and estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor data were available for 33 patients.

Concomitant expression of the chemokines RANTES and MCP-1 in human breast cancer: a basis for tumor-promoting interactions.

The chemokines RANTES (CCL5) and MCP-1 (CCL2) were suggested to contribute, independently, to breast malignancy. In the present study, we asked if the two chemokines are jointly expressed in clinical samples of breast cancer patients, and do they interact in breast tumor cells. We found that RANTES and MCP-1 were expressed by breast tumor cells in primary tumors of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, but minimally in normal breast epithelial duct cells.

Fulvestrant in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer: is it still effective as a very advanced line of treatment?

Background: Over 75% of postmenopausal patients with metastatic breast cancer have hormone receptor-positive tumors. Endocrine therapy, with its more favorable toxicity profile than chemotherapy, is the preferred treatment modality for these patients.

Objectives: To assess our experience with fulvestrant, an antiestrogen, in an advanced phase of treatment, after progression on the classical anti-estrogen (tamoxifen) and aromatase inhibitors

Methods: The study group comprised 46 patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with fulvestrant during the years 2002-2006.

Human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K) reverse transcriptase as a breast cancer prognostic marker.

A reverse transcriptase (RT) cDNA, designated HERV-K-T47D-RT, was isolated from a hormonally treated human breast cancer cell line. The protein product putative sequence is 97% identical to the human endogenous HERV-K retroviral sequences. Recombinant T47D-RT protein was used to generate polyclonal antibodies.

Association between standard clinical and pathologic characteristics and the 21-gene recurrence score in breast cancer patients: a population-based study.

Background: The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay has been reported to accurately predict the risk of disease recurrence and chemotherapy benefit in women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, lymph node (LN)-negative breast cancer who are treated with tamoxifen. To the authors' knowledge, the association between the RS and clinicopathologic characteristics has been studied in randomized and case-control trials, but not in the general population.

Methods: The authors analyzed the correlation between clinicopathologic breast cancer characteristics and RS among 300 consecutive Israeli patients who were referred to undergo the test between October 2004 and October 2006.

Focal asymmetric breast density: mammographic, sonographic and pathological correlation in 97 lesions--a call to restrain biopsies.

Background: The imaging parameters that mandate further diagnostic workup in focal asymmetric breast densities are not clearly defined.

Objectives: To identify indications for further workup in FABD by comparing mammographic and ultrasonographic findings with the pathology results of women with FABD.

Methods: Ninety-four women (97 FABD) were referred for core needle biopsy after incidental discovery of FABD on routine mammograms (n=83) or on diagnostic mammograms performed for palpable masses (n=11).

Assessing the effectiveness of Dead Sea products as prophylactic agents for acute radiochemotherapy-induced skin and mucosal toxicity in patients with head and neck cancers: a phase 2 study.

Background: Mucositis and dermatitis are frequently encountered in patients treated with radiochemotherapy. Dead Sea products that contain minerals and other properties have proven effective in treating various skin diseases.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of Dead Sea products in reducing acute radiochemotherapy-induced side effects in patients with head and neck cancer.

Neoadjuvant treatment with paclitaxel and epirubicin in invasive breast cancer: a phase II study.

Background And Objectives: The modern management of locally advanced breast cancer includes a multimodal approach consisting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (usually given as initial treatment), surgery, radiotherapy and adjuvant hormone therapy. This therapeutic approach converts many patients with initially unresectable disease to reasonable surgical candidates, with acceptable rates of loco-regional disease control. Induction of a pathological complete response (pCR) with modern chemotherapy agents or combined with immunotherapy, when applicable, should be one of the primary goals of neoadjuvant therapy in order to achieve better disease-free and overall survival in this subset of patients.

Long-term survival of a patient with widespread metastases from epithelial ovarian carcinoma receiving mind-body therapies: case report and review of the literature.

Five-year survival of patients with stage IV epithelial ovarian carcinoma not treated after recurrence is almost non-existent in oncological literature. The authors report a patient almost 30 years after surgery of the primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma lesion and 15 years after recurrent disease and incomplete chemotherapy who is alive without evidence of disease. She received no conventional oncological therapy during the past 15 years but rather used many types of alternative medicine, predominantly mind body therapies.

The chemokine CCL5 as a potential prognostic factor predicting disease progression in stage II breast cancer patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of the chemokine CCL5, considered as a promalignancy factor in breast cancer, in predicting breast cancer progression and to evaluate its ability to strengthen the prognostic significance of other biomarkers.

Experimental Design: The expression of CCL5, alone and in conjunction with estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha, ER-beta, progesterone receptor (PR), and HER-2/neu (ErbB2), was determined in breast tumor cells by immunohistochemistry. The study included 142 breast cancer patients, including individuals in whom disease has progressed.

Preoperative clinical, mammographic and sonographic assessment of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in breast cancer.

Background: The current methods for pre- and post-chemotherapy examination of the extent of disease in the breast and lymph nodes do not provide sufficiently accurate information and, not infrequently, the surgeon has to re-operate.

Objectives: To correlate the findings between three methods of examination (physical examination, ultrasonography, mammography), all performed by the same oncologic and radiologic team, in patients with locally advanced breast cancer or a tumor/breast tissue ratio that precludes breast-conserving surgery.

Methods: Forty patients (median age 48 years, range 24-73) with locally advanced breast cancer or with a tumor/breast ratio that precluded breast-conserving surgery were evaluated by the same medical team and received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.