The association of reproductive history with hypertension and obesity according to menopausal status: the J-MICC Study

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynaecological cancer. It is often diagnosed at an advanced stage with poor chances for successful treatment. An accurate blood test for the early detection of OC could reduce the mortality of this disease. Methods: Autoantibody reactivity to 20 epitopes of BARD1 and concentration of cancer antigen 125 (CA125) were assessed in 480 serum samples of OC patients and healthy controls. Autoantibody reactivity and CA125 were also tested for 261 plasma samples of OC with or without mutations in BRCA1/2, BARD1, or other predisposing genes, and healthy controls. Lasso statistic regression was applied to measurements to develop an algorithm for discrimination between OC and controls. Findings and interpretation: Measurement of autoantibody binding to a number of BARD1 epitopes combined with CA125 could distinguish OC from healthy controls with high accuracy. This BARD1-CA125 test was more accurate than measurements of BARD1 autoantibody or CA125 alone for all OC stages and menopausal status. A BARD1-CA125-based test is expected to work equally well for average-risk women and high-risk women with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC). Although these results are promising, further data on well-characterised clinical samples shall be used to confirm the potential of the BARD1-CA125 test for ovarian cancer screening.

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Oncolytic Virotherapy Treatment of Breast Cancer: Barriers and Recent Advances

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13061128 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1128

Author(s):

Amy Kwan ◽

Natalie Winder ◽

Munitta Muthana

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Cell Death ◽

Immune System ◽

Menopausal Status ◽

Oncolytic Virotherapy ◽

Immunogenic Cell Death ◽

Tumour Type ◽

Common Cancer ◽

Direct Cell

Oncolytic virotherapy (OV) is an emerging class of immunotherapeutic drugs. Their mechanism of action is two-fold: direct cell lysis and unmasking of the cancer through immunogenic cell death, which allows the immune system to recognize and eradicate tumours. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and is challenging to treat with immunotherapy modalities because it is classically an immunogenically “cold” tumour type. This provides an attractive niche for OV, given viruses have been shown to turn “cold” tumours “hot,” thereby opening a plethora of treatment opportunities. There has been a number of pre-clinical attempts to explore the use of OV in breast cancer; however, these have not led to any meaningful clinical trials. This review considers both the potential and the barriers to OV in breast cancer, namely, the limitations of monotherapy and the scope for combination therapy, improving viral delivery and challenges specific to the breast cancer population (e.g., tumour subtype, menopausal status, age).

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Genetic and Environmental Influences of Dietary Indices in a UK Female Twin Cohort

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1017/thg.2020.84 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

pp. 330-337

Author(s):

Olatz Mompeo ◽

Rachel Gibson ◽

Paraskevi Christofidou ◽

Tim D. Spector ◽

Cristina Menni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Menopausal Status ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Healthy Diet ◽

Nutritional Epidemiology ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Heritability Estimates ◽

Fitting Model ◽

Dietary Indices ◽

Health Parameters

AbstractA healthy diet is associated with the improvement or maintenance of health parameters, and several indices have been proposed to assess diet quality comprehensively. Twin studies have found that some specific foods, nutrients and food patterns have a heritable component; however, the heritability of overall dietary intake has not yet been estimated. Here, we compute heritability estimates of the nine most common dietary indices utilized in nutritional epidemiology. We analyzed 2590 female twins from TwinsUK (653 monozygotic [MZ] and 642 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) who completed a 131-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Heritability estimates were computed using structural equation models (SEM) adjusting for body mass index (BMI), smoking status, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), physical activity, menopausal status, energy and alcohol intake. The AE model was the best-fitting model for most of the analyzed dietary scores (seven out of nine), with heritability estimates ranging from 10.1% (95% CI [.02, .18]) for the Dietary Reference Values (DRV) to 42.7% (95% CI [.36, .49]) for the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (A-HEI). The ACE model was the best-fitting model for the Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) and Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) with heritability estimates of 5.4% (95% CI [−.17, .28]) and 25.4% (95% CI [.05, .46]), respectively. Here, we find that all analyzed dietary indices have a heritable component, suggesting that there is a genetic predisposition regulating what you eat. Future studies should explore genes underlying dietary indices to further understand the genetic disposition toward diet-related health parameters.

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Female reproductive history and the skeleton: a reviews

Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care ◽

10.1783/147118905774480545 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 321-321

Author(s):

L. Melvin

Keyword(s):

Reproductive History

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Performance of a novel protease-activated fluorescent imaging system for intraoperative detection of residual breast cancer during breast conserving surgery

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment ◽

10.1007/s10549-021-06106-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 187 (1) ◽

pp. 145-153

Author(s):

Conor R. Lanahan ◽

Bridget N. Kelly ◽

Michele A. Gadd ◽

Michelle C. Specht ◽

Carson L. Brown ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Real Time ◽

Imaging System ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Menopausal Status ◽

Fluorescent Imaging ◽

Cancer Subtypes ◽

Surgical Workflow ◽

Tumor Types

Abstract Purpose Safe breast cancer lumpectomies require microscopically clear margins. Real-time margin assessment options are limited, and 20–40% of lumpectomies have positive margins requiring re-excision. The LUM Imaging System previously showed excellent sensitivity and specificity for tumor detection during lumpectomy surgery. We explored its impact on surgical workflow and performance across patient and tumor types. Methods We performed IRB-approved, prospective, non-randomized studies in breast cancer lumpectomy procedures. The LUM Imaging System uses LUM015, a protease-activated fluorescent imaging agent that identifies residual tumor in the surgical cavity walls. Fluorescent cavity images were collected in real-time and analyzed using system software. Results Cavity and specimen images were obtained in 55 patients injected with LUM015 at 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg and in 5 patients who did not receive LUM015. All tumor types were distinguished from normal tissue, with mean tumor:normal (T:N) signal ratios of 3.81–5.69. T:N ratios were 4.45 in non-dense and 4.00 in dense breasts (p = 0.59) and 3.52 in premenopausal and 4.59 in postmenopausal women (p = 0.19). Histopathology and tumor receptor testing were not affected by LUM015. Falsely positive readings were more likely when tumor was present < 2 mm from the adjacent specimen margin. LUM015 signal was stable in vivo at least 6.5 h post injection, and ex vivo at least 4 h post excision. Conclusions Intraoperative use of the LUM Imaging System detected all breast cancer subtypes with robust performance independent of menopausal status and breast density. There was no significant impact on histopathology or receptor evaluation.

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