Relationship between morphological features and kinetic patterns of enhancement of the dynamic breast magnetic resonance imaging and tumor expression of metalloproteases and their inhibitors in invasive breast cancer.

Aim: Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) expression and their inhibitors (TIMPs) play an important role in tumor physiopathology, so we investigated the relationship between the magnetic resonance (MR) and MMPs/TIMPs expression by breast carcinomas.

Materials And Methods: MRI parameters of 64 breast carcinomas were investigated. An immunohistochemical study was also performed in these cases using tissue microarrays and specific antibodies against MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9, MMP-11, MMP-13, MMP-14, TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and TIMP-3.

Impact of CD68/(CD3+CD20) ratio at the invasive front of primary tumors on distant metastasis development in breast cancer.

Tumors are infiltrated by macrophages, T and B-lymphocytes, which may favor tumor development by promoting angiogenesis, growth and invasion. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of the relative amount of macrophages (CD68⁺), T-cells (CD3⁺ and B-cells (CD20⁺) at the invasive front of breast carcinomas, and the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) either at the invasive front or at the tumor center. We performed an immunohistochemical study counting CD3, CD20 and CD68 positive cells at the invasive front, in 102 breast carcinomas.

Comparative analysis of the expression of metalloproteases and their inhibitors in resected crohn's disease and complicated diverticular disease.

Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs), are expressed in the gastrointestinal tract by different cellular types. Nevertheless, the imbalance between MMPs and TIMPs plays an important role in the physiopathology of diverse intestinal inflammatory processes.

Methods: An immunohistochemical study was performed using tissue arrays and specific antibodies against MMPs -1, -2, -7, -9, -11, -13, -14, and TIMPs -1, -2 and -3.

Comparative study of the expression of metalloproteases and their inhibitors in different localizations within primary tumours and in metastatic lymph nodes of breast cancer.

Studies on metastasic lesions from human carcinomas are scarce. Therefore there is a need for such studies to identify the expression of the biological factors that will help in the assessment of the natural history of breast cancer. Here an immunohistochemical study was performed using tissue arrays and specific antibodies against matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases (TIMPs)-1, 2 and 3 in 39 patients with breast cancer.

Immunohistochemical study of matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors in pure and mixed invasive and in situ ductal carcinomas of the breast.

We assessed differences in the patterns of expression of matrix metalloproteases and their inhibitors (tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases) in ductal carcinoma in situ alone and admixed with invasive ductal carcinomas (n = 40), as well as in pure invasive ductal carcinomas (n = 40), immunohistochemically and using tissue arrays. The invasive ductal carcinoma components showed higher expression of matrix metalloprotease-9 and -13 than did the admixed ductal carcinoma in situ, whereas stromal fibroblasts of the invasive components showed higher expression of matrix metalloprotease-2, -7, -9, -13, and -14 and tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease-1 and -3 than did fibroblasts around the neoplastic ducts of the admixed ductal carcinoma in situ. Expression of matrix metalloprotease-14 and tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease-3 was significantly higher in the mononuclear inflammatory cells of the invasive components.

Expression of metalloproteases and their inhibitors in primary tumors and in local recurrences after mastectomy for breast cancer.

Aims: To investigate the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) in patients who develop local recurrence (LR) after mastectomy.

Methods: We analyzed the expressions of MMP-1, -2, -7, -9, -11, -13, -14, TIMP-1, -2, and -3, using immunohistochemical techniques, in primary tumors from patients without tumoral recurrence (n = 50), patients who developed distant metastasis (n = 50), and from patients who develop LRs (n = 25). LRs of the latter group were also analyzed for MMPs expression.

Analysis of the expression of hyaluronan in intraductal and invasive carcinomas of the breast.

Aims: To evaluate hyaluronan expression at different stages of tumoral progression in primary breast cancer.

Methods: Hyaluronan expression was evaluated by histochemical techniques in 42 cases of pure DCIS, in 15 cases of DCIS with a microinvasive component, and in 32 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. Staining results were evaluated by calculating the percentage of stained areas by means of a specific software program.

Expression and prognostic significance of metalloproteases and their inhibitors in luminal A and basal-like phenotypes of breast carcinoma.

To analyze the expression and prognostic value of matrix metalloproteases and their tissue inhibitors in luminal A and basal-like breast carcinomas, an immunohistochemical study was performed on cancer specimens from 93 randomly selected patients with invasive primary ductal tumors of the breast (46 with and 47 without distant metastasis) and with luminal A (n = 48) (ER+, HER2-) or basal-like (HER2-, ER-, PgR-) (n = 45) lesions. Luminal B cases were too few to analyze. Specimens were also studied using tissue microarrays and specific antibodies against matrix metalloproteases 1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14 and tissue inhibitors 1, 2, and 3.

Androgen receptor expresion in breast cancer: relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of the tumors, prognosis, and expression of metalloproteases and their inhibitors.

Background: In the present study we analyze, in patients with breast cancer, the tumor expression of androgen receptors (AR), its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and with the expression of several matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs), as well as with prognosis.

Methods: An immunohistochemical study was performed using tissue microarrays and specific antibodies against AR, MMPs -1, -2, -7, -9, -11, -13, -14, and TIMPs -1, -2 and -3. More than 2,800 determinations on tumor specimens from 111 patients with primary invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast (52 with axillary lymph node metastases and 59 without them) and controls were performed.

The mammographic appearance of breast carcinomas of invasive ductal type: relationship with clinicopathological parameters, biological features and prognosis.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical significance of the mammographic appearance of tumors in 411 patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Study Design: Tumors were classified into five radiographic subgroups: spiculated mass (A-type), diffuse changes with or without suspicious microcalcifications (B-type), microcalcifications with a mass (C-type), circumscribed (D-type), and not visible (E-type). Intratumoral levels of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors, c-erbB-2, EGFR, pS2, cathepsin D and tPA, ploidy and S-phase fraction, were analysed in a significant number of cases.

Prognostic value of pre-operative serum CA 15.3 levels in breast cancer.

Background: CA15.3 (also known as MUCI) is the most widely used marker in breast cancer. The aim of the present work was the evaluation of the prognostic value of preoperative serum CA15.

Expression and clinical signification of cytosolic hyaluronan levels in invasive breast cancer.

Background: Hyaluronic acid (HA), a high-molecular weight glycosaminoglycan, has been considered to be involved in the growth and progression of malignant tumors in several experimental studies. The objective of this work was to evaluate the cytosolic HA content in breast cancer, its possible relationship with clinicopathological tumor parameters and steroid receptor status, as well as its potential prognostic significance.

Methods: Cytosolic HA levels were examined by means of immunoradiometric techniques in 850 patients with invasive breast cancer.