Relationship between cardiovascular disease knowledge and race/ethnicity, education, and weight status.

Background: Inadequate cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge has been cited to account for the imperfect decline in CVD among women over the last 2 decades.

Hypothesis: Due to concerns that at-risk women might not know the leading cause of death or symptoms of a heart attack, our goal was to assess the relationship between CVD knowledge race/ethnicity, education, and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Using a structured questionnaire, CVD knowledge, socio-demographics, risk factors, and BMI were evaluated in 681 women.

Sulfotransferase 2B1b in human breast: differences in subcellular localization in African American and Caucasian women.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women; however, the development of post-menopausal BC is significantly lower in African Americans as compared to Caucasians. Hormonal stimulation is important in BC development and differences in the conversion of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) into estrogens may be involved in the lower incidence of post-menopausal BC in African American women. DHEA sulfation by sulfotransferase 2B1b (SULT2B1b) is important in regulating the conversion of DHEA into estrogens in tissues.

Human breast fibroblasts inhibit growth of the MCF10AT xenograft model of proliferative breast disease.

Stromal fibroblasts are important for normal breast homeostasis and regulation of epithelial growth; however, this regulatory function is altered during carcinogenesis. To study the role of fibroblasts in the development of breast cancer, fibroblasts derived from normal breast (NAFs) were incorporated into the MCF10AT xenograft model of progressive proliferative breast disease. The persistence of human NAFs in xenografts was established by intracellular labeling and tyramide-coupled fluorescent in situ hybridization.

DNA fingerprints provide a patient-specific breast cancer marker.

Background: Detection of systemic breast cancer recurrence is limited by lack of universally expressed tumor cell markers. We hypothesized that a test that detects genetic alterations specific to breast cancer cells of an individual patient would provide a superior cancer marker.

Methods: DNA was extracted from blood, primary tumor, and axillary lymph nodes of 33 breast cancer patients and normal breast tissue of 12 control patients.

Different subcellular localization of sulphotransferase 2B1b in human placenta and prostate.

The human hydroxysteroid SULT (sulphotransferase) 2B1 subfamily consists of two isoforms, SULT2B1a and SULT2B1b. These two isoenzymes are transcribed from the same gene by alternative splicing of their first exons and share 94% amino acid sequence identity. The SULT2B1 isoforms are highly selective for the sulphation of 3beta-hydroxysteroids.