CA 15-3 (Mucin-1) and Physiological Characteristics of Breast Cancer from Lahore, Pakistan

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Ligands and Receptors in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy responsible for the largest number of deaths in women worldwide. The risk of developing BC is predisposed by many factors such as age, presence of genetic mutations or body weight. The diagnosis is mostly made relatively late, which is why patients are exposed to radical surgical treatments, long-term chemotherapy and lower survival rates. There are no sufficiently sensitive and specific screening tests; therefore, researchers are still looking for new diagnostic biomarkers that would indicate the appearance of neoplastic changes in the initial stage of neoplasm. The VEGF family of proteins (VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, EG-VEGF, PlGF) and their receptors are significant factors in the pathogenesis of BC. They play a significant role in the process of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in both physiological and pathological conditions. The usefulness of these proteins as potential diagnostic biomarkers has been initially proven. Moreover, the blockage of VEGF-related pathways seems to be a valid therapeutic target. Recent studies have tried to describe novel strategies, including targeting pericytes, use of miRNAs and extracellular tumor-associated vesicles, immunotherapeutic drugs and nanotechnology. This indicates their possible contribution to the formation of breast cancer and their usefulness as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Stimuli-responsive Drug Delivery Nanocarriers in the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Stimuli-responsive drug-delivery nanocarriers (DDNs) have been increasingly reported in the literature as an alternative for breast cancer therapy. Stimuli-responsive DDNs are developed with materials that present a drastic change in response to intrinsic/chemical stimuli (pH, redox and enzyme) and extrinsic/physical stimuli (ultrasound, Near-infrared (NIR) light, magnetic field and electric current). In addition, they can be developed using different strategies, such as functionalization with signaling molecules, leading to several advantages, such as (a) improved pharmaceutical properties of liposoluble drugs, (b) selectivity with the tumor tissue decreasing systemic toxic effects, (c) controlled release upon different stimuli, which are all fundamental to improving the therapeutic effectiveness of breast cancer treatment. Therefore, this review summarizes the use of stimuli-responsive DDNs in the treatment of breast cancer. We have divided the discussions into intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli and have separately detailed them regarding their definitions and applications. Finally, we aim to address the ability of these stimuli-responsive DDNs to control the drug release in vitro and the influence on breast cancer therapy, evaluated in vivo in breast cancer models.

Electrochemical Nanobiosensors for Detection of Breast Cancer Biomarkers

This comprehensive review paper describes recent advances made in the field of electrochemical nanobiosensors for the detection of breast cancer (BC) biomarkers such as specific genes, microRNA, proteins, circulating tumor cells, BC cell lines, and exosomes or exosome-derived biomarkers. Besides the description of key functional characteristics of electrochemical nanobiosensors, the reader can find basic statistic information about BC incidence and mortality, breast pathology, and current clinically used BC biomarkers. The final part of the review is focused on challenges that need to be addressed in order to apply electrochemical nanobiosensors in a clinical practice.

Course of SP-D, YKL-40, CCL18 and CA 15-3 in adult patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia and their association with disease severity and aetiology: A post-hoc analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIM

SP-D, YKL-40, CCL18 and CA 15-3 are pulmonary markers that have been extensively investigated in different chronic pulmonary diseases. However, in acute pulmonary diseases, such as community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), little is known about the course of these markers and their relationship with the aetiological agent. The aim of this study was to investigate the course of these four markers in CAP and to study influence of disease severity, aetiology and antibiotic use prior to admission on their course.

METHODS

We included 291 adult patients hospitalised with CAP and 20 healthy controls. Measurements were performed in serum of day 0, 2, and 4, and at least 30 days after admission.

RESULTS

Our most important results were: 1) At all time-points, including 30 days after admission, YKL-40 and CCL18 levels were higher in CAP patients compared to healthy controls; and 2) Patients with CAP caused by an intracellular, atypical bacterium had lower YKL-40 and especially CCL18 levels on and during admission in comparison with other or unknown CAP aetiology.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that these pulmonary markers could be useful to assess CAP severity and, especially YKL-40 and CCL18 by helping predict CAP caused by atypical pathogens.

Significant correlation between salivary and serum Ca 15-3 in healthy women and breast cancer patients

The tumor marker CA 15-3 is one of the most import reliable for metastatic breast cancer monitoring. While it is generally assessed in serum of patients, blood sampling is an invasive method compared to saliva sampling which is simple and could be an alternative to blood according to many studies. The aim of this investigation was to assess the relationship between serum and salivary concentrations of the protein CA 15-3 in patients with breast cancer and healthy asymptomatic volunteers. A case-control study was conducted with 60 women: 29 breast cancer patients from the Maternity Hospital Souissi Rabat (Morocco) and 31 healthy asymptomatic women. The CA 15-3 concentrations in saliva and serum samples were assessed using an enzyme immune assay (EIA kits) and comparison between cases and controls was made by the Mann-Whitney test. The correlation between serum and saliva CA 15-3 concentration was tested using Pearson correlation. The comparison result of CA15-3 concentration in saliva and serum level in cases and controls was not statistically significant (p>0.05). However, the correlation between salivary and serum CA 15-3 concentration was positive and statistically significant (r=0.27, p=0.03). In conclusion, the positive correlation between salivary and serum expression found in our study suggests that saliva could be an alternative to blood sampling to help breast cancer monitoring.