Editorial: ductal lavage of the breast

The intraductal approach to the breast: raison d'être

Opportunities for the detection, prediction, and treatment of breast cancer exist at three biological levels: systemically via the blood, at the whole organ level, and within the individual ductal lobular structures of the breast. This review covers the evaluation of approaches targeted to the ductal lobular units, where breast cancer begins. Studies to date suggest the presence of 5 to 12 independent ductal lobular systems per breast, each harboring complex cellular fluids contributed by local and systemic processes. New techniques for accessing and interrogating these systems offer the potential to gauge the microenvironment of the breast and distill biological risk profiles.

[The serum concentration of interleukin-2 in a hemodialysis patient--report from interleukin adjuvant therapy for local recurrent renal cancer]

We started interleukin-2 (IL-2) adjuvant therapy after resection of a repeated local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma in a hemodialysis patient. It is reported that IL-2 is mainly metabolized in proximal tubules of the kidney. To determine the IL-2 concentration, we employed the ELISA method using anti-human IL-2 antibodies. At the concentration of 350,000 Japan reference unit (JRU) in a hemodialysis patient, the change in serum IL-2 was almost the same speed compared to 700,000 JRU in normal renal function patients, which was reported previously. This report may also be a good tool to define the ideal dose of IL-2 in hemodialysis patients.