Interval breast cancer is associated with interferon immune response

The impact of circulating protein levels identified by affinity proteomics on short-term, overall breast cancer risk

OBJECTIVE

Current breast cancer risk prediction scores and algorithms can potentially be further improved by including molecular markers. To this end, we studied the association of circulating plasma proteins using Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) with incident breast cancer risk.

SUBJECTS

In this study, we included 1577 women participating in the prospective KARMA mammographic screening cohort.

RESULTS

In a targeted panel of 164 proteins, we found 8 candidates nominally significantly associated with short-term breast cancer risk (P < 0.05). Similarly, in an exploratory panel consisting of 2204 proteins, 115 were found nominally significantly associated (P < 0.05). However, none of the identified protein levels remained significant after adjustment for multiple testing. This lack of statistically significant findings was not due to limited power, but attributable to the small effect sizes observed even for nominally significant proteins. Similarly, adding plasma protein levels to established risk factors did not improve breast cancer risk prediction accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that the levels of the studied plasma proteins captured by the PEA method are unlikely to offer additional benefits for risk prediction of short-term overall breast cancer risk but could provide interesting insights into the biological basis of breast cancer in the future.

Identification of prognostic melatonin-related lncRNA signature in tumor immune microenvironment and drug resistance for breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Melatonin is a neurohormone involved in diverse physiological processes, including regulation of circadian rhythm, oncogenesis and immune function. More attention are focused on the molecular events surrounding the occurrence of abnormally expressed lncRNAs leading to breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of melatonin-related lncRNAs in the clinical management of BRCA patients and their immune responses.

METHODS

The transcriptome data and clinical data of BRCA patients were acquired from TCGA database. A total of 1103 patients were randomly assigned to either training set or validation set. A melatonin-related lncRNA signature was constructed in the training set and verified in the validation set. Functional analysis, immune microenvironment and drug resistance analysis associated to melatonin-related lncRNAs were performed by utilizing GO&KEGG, ESTIMATE and TIDE analysis. A nomogram based on the signature score and clinical characteristics was established, which was calibrated to increase prediction probability of 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival for BRCA patients.

RESULTS

BRCA patients were divided into two signature groups based on a 17-melatonin-related lncRNA signature. High-signature patients had worse prognosis than low-signature patients (p < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis proved that the signature score was an independent prognostic factor for BRCA patients. Functional analysis indicated that high-signature BRCA involved in regulation of processing and maturation of mRNA and misfolded protein response. Remarkably, immune microenvironment analysis showed that the proportion of tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophage and the expression of CTLA4 were significantly higher in high-signature BRCA. The calibration curves for the probability of invasive BRCA showed optimal agreement between the probability as predicted by the nomogram and the actual probability.

CONCLUSIONS

A novel melatonin-related lncRNA signature was considered as an independent prognostic indicator for BRCA patients. Melatonin-related lncRNAs were potentially associated with tumor immune microenvironment and might be therapeutic targets for BRCA patients.