Trace element abnormalities in the scalp hair of breast cancer patients

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 49-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Kabiri ◽  
O. Kakuee ◽  
V. Fathollahi ◽  
B. Stout

Development of a number of diseases like cardiovascular diseases and cancer has been related with abnormalities of certain trace elements in some tissues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of trace elements in breast cancer patients in comparison with healthy controls. Particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) technique was employed to measure the hair trace element concentrations in 30 cancer patients and 30 healthy controls. A 2.2 MeV proton beam was employed to excite the biological samples. The concentrations of Fe and Cu ([Formula: see text]) in the hair of cancer patients were found to be higher compared to those of healthy controls, while the concentration of Zn ([Formula: see text]) was found to be lower. No significant difference was observed for sulfur concentration between the two groups. Also, no meaningful difference was observed in the concentrations of K, Ca, Ti as well as ratios of Cu/Zn and Cu/Fe in the hair of the two groups ([Formula: see text]). These abnormalities could potentially be used as a means of breast cancer screening in women.

QJM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abeer I Abd Elmagid ◽  
Hala Abdel Al ◽  
Wessam El Sayed Saad ◽  
Seham Kamal Mohamed

Abstract Background Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and one of the most important causes of death among them.Angiogenesis is an important step for primary tumor growth, invasiveness, and metastases. Angiopoietins are well-recognized endothelial growth factors that are involved in angiogenesis associated with tumors. Aim To explore the diagnostic significance of serum angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in breast cancer and to evaluate its prognostic efficacy through studying the degree of its association with the TNM staging of the disease. Patients and Methods This study was conducted on (35) Egyptian female patients who were diagnosed as breast cancer according to histopathological examination of breast biopsy (Group 1, Breast Cancer Patients) and (25) female patients with benign breast diseases (Group II, Pathological Control Patients), in addition to (20) age - matched apparently healthy, free mammogram, females serving as healthy controls (Group III, Healthy Controls). For all participants, measurement of serum Ang-2 was done using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results A highly significant increased levels of Ang-2 was observed in breast cancer patients when compared to healthy control group (Z = 4.95, p < 0.01). However, no significant difference was observed in Ang-2 levels between breast cancer patients group and pathological control group (Z = 3.37, p > 0.05). No significant difference was detected in Ang-2 levels in relation to TNM stage and histological grade. No significant correlation was found between Ang-2 levels and serum levels of CA15-3, hormone receptors, HER2/new receptor status (p > 0.05, respectively). Conclusion This study revealed that Ang-2 serum levels were significantly increased in patient with breast cancer compared with healthy controls, indicating that high Ang-2 level is a promising non invasive biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis. However, no significant difference of Ang-2 levels was detected in relation of breast TNM staging in the population studied.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 3135-3135
Author(s):  
Takeshi Murata ◽  
Takako Yanagisawa ◽  
Toshiaki Kurihara ◽  
Miku Kaneko ◽  
Sana Ota ◽  
...  

3135 Background: Saliva is non-invasively accessible and informative biological fluid which has high potential for the early diagnosis of various diseases. The aim of this study is to develop machine learning methods and to explore new salivary biomarkers to discriminate breast cancer patients from healthy controls. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive metabolite analysis of saliva samples obtained from 101 patients with invasive carcinoma (IC), 23 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and 42 healthy controls, using capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry to quantify hundreds of hydrophilic metabolites. Saliva samples were collected under 9h fasting and were split into training and validation data. Conventional statistical analyses and artificial intelligence-based methods were used to access the discrimination abilities of the quantified metabolite. Multiple logistic regression (MLR) model and an alternative decision tree (ADTree)-based machine learning methods were used. The generalization abilities of these mathematical models were validated in various computational tests, such as cross-validation and resampling methods. Results: Among quantified 260 metabolites, amino acids and polyamines showed significantly elevated in saliva from breast cancer patients, e.g. spermine showed the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) to discriminate IC from C; 0.766 (95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.671 – 0.840, P < 0.0001). These metabolites showed no significant difference between C and DICS, i.e., these metabolites were elevated only in the samples of IC. The MLR yielded higher AUC to discriminate IC from C; 0.790 (95% CI; 0.699 – 0.859, P < 0.0001). The ADTree with ensemble approach showed the best AUC; 0.912 (95% CI; 0.838 – 0.961, P < 0.0001). In the comparison of these metabolites in the analysis of each subtype, seven metabolites were significantly different between Luminal A-like and Luminal B-like while, but few metabolites were significantly different among the other subtypes. Conclusions: These data indicated the combination of salivary metabolomic profiles including polyamines showed potential ability to screening breast cancer in a non-invasive way.


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rihwa Choi ◽  
Min-Ji Kim ◽  
Insuk Sohn ◽  
Serim Kim ◽  
Isaac Kim ◽  
...  

The relationships between serum levels of trace elements and breast cancer remain relatively unknown. In this study, we investigate serum levels of seven trace elements in Korean breast cancer patients compared to controls without breast cancer. Serum trace element levels were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in Korean breast cancer patients before initiation of breast cancer treatment. Korean females without breast cancer served as a control group. Trace element levels were measured in the discovery cohort (n = 287) and were validated in an independent cohort (n = 142). We further investigated possible associations between trace element levels and the presence of lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, or triple-negative breast cancer among breast cancer patients in subgroup analyses. Serum manganese and molybdenum levels were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in breast cancer patients than in controls. Serum copper levels were significantly higher in breast cancer patients with distant metastasis, while selenium levels were significantly lower. Other trace elements were neither significantly different between breast cancer patients and controls nor between subgroups of breast cancer patients. Our study provides insights about the potential roles and impacts of trace elements through an assessment of the associations between trace elements and breast cancer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. BCBCR.S9607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dharmica A.H. Mistry ◽  
Joseph Haklani ◽  
Peter W. French

A correlation between the presence of breast cancer and a change in the synchrotron-generated X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of hair has been reported in several publications by different groups, and on average XRD-based assays detect around 75% of breast cancer patients in blinded studies. To date, the molecular mechanisms leading to this alteration are largely unknown. We have determined that the alteration is likely to be due to the presence of one or more breast cancer-associated phospholipids. Further characterization of these lipids could be used to develop a novel, sensitive and specific screening test for breast cancer, based on hair initially, and potentially extendable to other biological samples.


1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Paradiso ◽  
M.G. Vetrugno ◽  
G. Capuano ◽  
S. Longo ◽  
L. Sibilano ◽  
...  

The expression of glutathione S-transferase mu was measured by a qualitative immunoenzymatic assay in the blood samples of 108 women (63 breast cancer patients and 45 healthy controls) in order to analyze the relationships of GST-mu phenotype and smoking habits with tumor characteristics of breast cancer patients, such as tumor extension, nodal status, hormone receptor status and DNA content by flow cytometry. GST-mu was expressed in 53/108 (49%) of cases without any significant difference between healthy or neoplastic subjects, smokers or non-smokers, pre or post-menopausal, younger or older subjects. Moreover, the percentages of the GST-mu phenotype did not differ significantly in patients with different ER and PgR tumor status, tumor extension or nodal status. By contrast, aneuploid DNA tumor content was shown to be significantly associated with GST-mu expression (24% and 76% GST-mu positive, respectively, in diploid and aneuploid cases; p < 0.003). The biological meaning of this association remains to be interpreted.


2011 ◽  
Vol 294 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Sarita ◽  
G. J. Naga Raju ◽  
A. S. Pradeep ◽  
Tapash R. Rautray ◽  
B. Seetharami Reddy ◽  
...  

MicroRNA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-63
Author(s):  
Batool Savari ◽  
Sohrab Boozarpour ◽  
Maryam Tahmasebi-Birgani ◽  
Hossein Sabouri ◽  
Seyed Mohammad Hosseini

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women worldwide. So it seems that there's a good chance of recovery if it's detected in its early stages even before the appearances of symptoms. Recent studies have shown that miRNAs play an important role during cancer progression. These transcripts can be tracked in liquid samples to reveal if cancer exists, for earlier treatment. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) has been shown to be a key regulator of carcinogenesis, and breast tumor is no exception. Objective: The present study was aimed to track the miR-21 expression level in serum of the breast cancer patients in comparison with that of normal counterparts. Methods: Comparative real-time polymerase chain reaction was applied to determine the levels of expression of miR-21 in the serum samples of 57 participants from which, 42 were the patients with breast cancer including pre-surgery patients (n = 30) and post-surgery patients (n = 12), and the others were the healthy controls (n = 15). Results: MiR-21 was significantly over expressed in the serum of breast cancer patients as compared with healthy controls (P = 0.002). A significant decrease was also observed following tumor resection (P < 0.0001). Moreover, it was found that miR-21 overexpression level was significantly associated with tumor grade (P = 0.004). Conclusion: These findings suggest that miR-21 has the potential to be used as a novel breast cancer biomarker for early detection and prognosis, although further experiments are needed.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Safa Najafi ◽  
Maryam Ansari ◽  
Vahid Kaveh ◽  
Shahpar Haghighat

Abstract Background The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of a single dose (Pegfilgrastim or PDL) or repeated six daily injections (Filgrastim or PDG) during chemotherapy courses in breast cancer patients in a non-inferiority clinical trial. Methods In this randomized clinical trial, 80 patients were recruited and allocated randomly to two equal arms. In one group, a single subcutaneous dose of PDL was injected the day after receiving the chemotherapy regimen in each cycle. The second arm received a subcutaneous injection of PDG for six consecutive days in each cycle of treatment. The side effects of GCF treatment and its effect on blood parameters were compared in each cycle and during eight cycles of chemotherapy. Results Hematologic parameters showed no significant differences in any of the treatment courses between the two study groups. The comparison of WBC (p = 0.527), Hgb (p = 0.075), Platelet (p = 0.819), Neutrophil (p = 0.575), Lymphocyte (p = 705) and ANC (p = 0.675) changes during the eight courses of treatment also revealed no statistically significant difference between the two study groups. Side effects including headache, injection site reaction and muscle pain had a lower frequency in patients receiving PDL drugs. Conclusion It seems that PDL is non-inferior in efficacy and also less toxic than PDG. Since PDL can be administered in a single dose and is also less costly, it can be regarded as a cost-effective drug for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. Trial registration IRCT20190504043465N1, May 2019.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (25) ◽  
pp. 4072-4077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer K. Litton ◽  
Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo ◽  
Carla L. Warneke ◽  
Aman U. Buzdar ◽  
Shu-Wan Kau ◽  
...  

Purpose To understand the mechanism through which obesity in breast cancer patients is associated with poorer outcome, we evaluated body mass index (BMI) and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) in women with operable breast cancer. Patients and Methods From May 1990 to July 2004, 1,169 patients were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and received NC before surgery. Patients were categorized as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), overweight (BMI of 25 to < 30 kg/m2), or normal/underweight (BMI < 25 kg/m2). Logistic regression was used to examine associations between BMI and pathologic complete response (pCR). Breast cancer–specific, progression-free, and overall survival times were examined using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Median age was 50 years; 30% of patients were obese, 32% were overweight, and 38% were normal or underweight. In multivariate analysis, there was no significant difference in pCR for obese compared with normal weight patients (odds ratio [OR] = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.49 to 1.26). Overweight and the combination of overweight and obese patients were significantly less likely to have a pCR (OR = 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.95; and OR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.99, respectively). Obese patients were more likely to have hormone-negative tumors (P < .01), stage III tumors (P < .01), and worse overall survival (P = .006) at a median follow-up time of 4.1 years. Conclusion Higher BMI was associated with worse pCR to NC. In addition, its association with worse overall survival suggests that greater attention should be focused on this risk factor to optimize the care of breast cancer patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document