(Press-News.org) The outlook for patients with breast cancer is determined in part by whether or not their tumor has spread to other sites in the body. A team of researchers, led by Roman Perez-Fernandez and colleagues, at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, has now identified in a subset of patients with breast cancer, a marker associated with the occurrence of tumors at distant sites; a finding that they hope might help predict a patient's outlook more accurately. Specifically, the team found that in patients with breast cancer that was accompanied by the presence of tumor cells in nearby lymph nodes, high levels of expression of the protein Pit-1 were associated with tumor spread to distant sites. The authors therefore suggest that analysis of Pit-1 expression in human breast tumor samples could help predict the outlook for patients with lymph node–positive breast cancer.
INFORMATION:
TITLE: Deregulation of the Pit-1 transcription factor in human breast cancer cells promotes tumor growth and metastasis
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Roman Perez-Fernandez
University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Phone: 34.8818.12257; Fax: 34.981.574145; E-mail: roman.perez.fernandez@usc.es.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/42015?key=b82dbe71403c8d490e53
PIT(-1)ting good and bad outcomes against each other in breast cancer
2010-11-09
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
JCI online early table of contents: Nov. 8, 2010
2010-11-09
EDITOR'S PICK: PIT(-1)ting good and bad outcomes against each other in breast cancer
The outlook for patients with breast cancer is determined in part by whether or not their tumor has spread to other sites in the body. A team of researchers, led by Roman Perez-Fernandez and colleagues, at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, has now identified in a subset of patients with breast cancer, a marker associated with the occurrence of tumors at distant sites; a finding that they hope might help predict a patient's outlook more accurately. Specifically, the team ...
Research into adolescent sexual habits reveals surprising findings
2010-11-09
Females are more likely to have an unprotected first sexual encounter than their male counterparts.
This finding was a surprise to Nicole Weller, an Arizona State University graduate student working toward her doctoral degree in sociology, who presented preliminary findings on research she is conducting on the relationship between early sex education and the onset of sexual activity at the 138th annual American Public Health Association Social Justice Meeting and Expo in Denver on Monday, Nov. 8. Weller is a student in the School of Social and Family Dynamics in the College ...
PPIs and antiplatelet drugs can be used together after careful consideration of risks and benefits
2010-11-09
Using proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and antiplatelet drugs (thienopyridines) together is an appropriate way of treating patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease who are at high risk of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds, despite recent concerns about an adverse interaction between these two types of drugs, according to an Expert Consensus Document released jointly today by the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), and the American Heart Association (AHA).
The potential benefits of antiplatelet therapy for patients ...
Silent vascular disease accompanies cognitive decline in healthy aging
2010-11-09
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Older people who are leading active, healthy lifestyles often have silent vascular disease that can be seen on brain scans that affect their ability to think, according to a new study led by UC Davis researchers and published online today in the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA Archives journals.
"This study shows that silent vascular disease is really common as we get older and it influences our thinking abilities," said Charles DeCarli, professor of neurology in the School of Medicine at UC Davis and director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's ...
Although less prevalent, physician-industry relationships remain common
2010-11-09
A new survey finds that, while the number of physicians who report having relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers or other industrial companies has dropped in recent years, the vast majority of them still maintain such relationships. The study, conducted by the Mongan Institute for Health Policy (IHP) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), appears in the Nov. 8 Archives of Internal Medicine and also documents changes in the frequency of particular types of relationships.
"While physician-industry relationships have decreased significantly since 2004, they ...
Alternative treatment for preventing relapse of certain type of vasculitis appears less effective
2010-11-09
In a comparison of treatments for maintaining remission of a certain type of vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels), the immunosuppressant mycophenolate mofetil, regarded as an alternative to the drug often used to prevent relapse, azathioprine, was less effective, according to a study that will appear in the December 1 print edition of JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting.
"Relapses of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) ...
Survey suggests that many physicians still have relationships with industry
2010-11-09
Relationships with drug manufacturers, device companies and other medical companies appear to be have decreased since 2004 but remain common among physicians, according to a report in the November 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"The medical profession has embraced the importance of placing patient welfare ahead of financial benefits to physicians in clinical decision making," the authors write as background information in the article. "One tenet of medical professionalism is managing conflicts of interest related to physician-industry ...
Starting dialysis earlier may be harmful for some patients
2010-11-09
Beginning dialysis therapy earlier in the development of advanced kidney disease appears to be associated with a greater risk of death for some patients in the following year, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the March 14 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Dialysis—a procedure in which a machine performs the blood-filtering functions of the kidneys—should help patients with advanced kidney disease live longer, reduce their illness burden and improve their quality of life, according to background ...
Clinical research doesn't do enough to study sex and gender differences
2010-11-09
Potential gender differences in clinical management are under-researched. A systematic analysis of the incorporation of sex and gender into research design, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has found that, although there has been a progressive improvement since the 90s, there exists a striking under-representation of research about gender differences in patient management.
Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, from the Institute of Gender in Medicine, Berlin, worked with a team of researchers to study almost 9000 research articles, looking for evidence of sex and ...
Many patients having heart attacks still wait more than 2 hours to go to the hospital
2010-11-09
Long delays between developing symptoms and going to the hospital are common among patients with a certain type of heart attack, according to a report in the November 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Professional guidelines recommend that patients call 9-1-1 if symptoms suggestive of a heart attack do not improve within five minutes, according to background information in the article. Medical treatment is most urgent in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; a certain pattern on an electrocardiogram ...