• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

Accurate diagnosis and proper monitoring of cancer patients remain important obstacles for successful cancer treatment. The search for cancer biomarkers can aid in more accurate prediction of clinical outcome and may also reveal novel predictive factors and therapeutic targets. One such prognostic marker seems to be FOXA1. Many studies have shown that FOXA1 is strongly expressed in a vast majority of cancers, including breast cancer, in which high expression is associated with a good prognosis. In this review, we summarize the role of this transcription factor in the development and prognosis of breast cancer in the hope of providing insights into utility of FOXA1 as a novel biomarker.

• BMB Reports
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• 제48권8호
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• pp.427-428
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• 2015

Despite high interests on microenvironmental regulation of leukemic cells, little is known for bone marrow (BM) niche in leukemia patients. Our recent study on BMs of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients showed that the mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are altered during leukemic conditions in a clinical course-dependent manner. Leukemic blasts caused reprogramming of transcriptomes in MSCs and remodeling of niche cross-talk, selectively suppressing normal primitive hematopoietic cells while supporting leukemogenesis and chemo-resistance. Notably, differences in BM stromal remodeling were correlated to heterogeneity in subsequent clinical courses of AML, i.e., low numbers of mesenchymal progenitors at initial diagnosis were correlated to complete remission for 5-8 years, and high contents of mesenchymal progenitor or MSCs correlated to early or late relapse, respectively. Thus, stromal remodeling by leukemic cell is an intrinsic part of leukemogenesis that can contribute to the clonal dominance of leukemic cells over normal hematopoietic cells, and can serve as a biomarker for prediction of prognosis. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(8): 427-428]

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.4-28
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• 2024

Liquid biopsy, a minimally invasive procedure that causes minimal pain and complication risks to patients, has been extensively studied for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, it facilitates comprehensive quantification and serial assessment of the whole-body tumor burden. Several biosources obtained through liquid biopsy have been studied as important biomarkers for establishing early diagnosis, monitoring minimal residual disease, and predicting the prognosis and response to treatment in patients with cancer. Although the clinical application of liquid biopsy in gastric cancer is not as robust as that in other cancers, biomarker studies using liquid biopsy are being actively conducted in patients with gastric cancer. Herein, we aimed to review the role of various biosources that can be obtained from patients with gastric cancer through liquid biopsies, such as blood, saliva, gastric juice, urine, stool, peritoneal lavage fluid, and ascites, by dividing them into cellular and acellular components. In addition, we reviewed previous studies on the diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers for gastric cancer using liquid biopsy and discussed the limitations of liquid biopsy and the challenges to overcome these limitations in patients with gastric cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권24호
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• pp.10773-10777
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• 2015

Background: Treatment for breast cancer is mainly performed by surgical resection of primary tumors and chemotherapy. However, after tumor invasion and metastases, breast cancer is hard to control. Clarification of the pathogenic mechanisms would be helpful to the prognosis or therapy for the breast cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical and prognostic implications of legumain protein Materials and Methods: In this study, we examined mastectomy specimens from 114 breast cancer and matching, 26 adjacent non-cancerous tissues using immunohistochemistry. Results: The results indicated that positive expression of legumain protein in breast cancer was 51.8 % (59/114) and the positive expression of legumain protein in adjacent non-cancerous tissue was 11.5% (3/26). It appeared to be related with lymph node metastasis of breast cancer (p=0.02) and correlation analysis indicated that legumain expression was correlated positively with the estrogen receptor (ER) and mutant-type p53 expression (both p<0.05). Positive legumain expression was significantly associated with shorter overall survival time in breast cancer patients (log-rank p<0.01). Multivariate survival analysis suggested that the positive legumain expression was an independent predictor of poorer overall survival in patients with breast cancer (HR=0.24; 95%CI 0.11-0.65, p=0.03). Conclusions: Legumain might be a new potential biomarker for breast cancer, which may reflect the prognosis and overall survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.4541-4544
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• 2012

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy with the highest incidence rates among women worldwide. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) disease is diagnosed more frequently in younger women, and is associated with a poor prognosis. Elevated levels of serum haptoglobin protein (Hp) are observed in many malignant diseases including breast cancer. We evaluated the expression and prognostic value of Hp among patients with TNBC. Materials and Methods: Serum Hp levels were determined by Elisa in 41 patients with TNBC and 10 normal individuals. Hp status was correlated with other clinico-pathological parameters including patient survival. Results: Of the 41 patients with TNBC, Hp over expression was detected in 24 (59%) by Elisa. Hp up-regulation was confirmed by Elisa based quantification in the serum of 41 TNBC patients against lower grades and 10 normal individuals. Survival analysis revealed that Hp ($p=2.016{\times}10^{-5}$), stage ($p=2.166{\times}10^{-5}$), distant metastasis ($p=2.217{\times}10^{-5}$), tumor size ($p=1.053{\times}10^{-5}$), and tumor grade (p=0.001), correlated with patient survival on univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that Hp (p=0.001), and grade of the disease (p=0.008) were independent predictors of survival. Conclusion: Our results indicate that serum levels of Hp may play a role as a potential serum biomarker and prognostic indicator among TNBC patients. Thus, Hp may present a new promising prognostic biomarker in TNBC patients, but independent validations are now necessary for confirmation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권10호
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• pp.4317-4321
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• 2015

Background: Prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer are routinely investigated in the primary tumors to guide further management. However, it is proposed that the expression may change during the disease progression, and may result in a different immune profile in the metastatic nodes. This work aimed to investigate the expression of breast prognostic biomarkers in primary tumors and in its axillary nodal metastasis, to estimate the possible discordant expression. Materials and Methods: 60 paired primary and axillary nodal metastasis samples were collected from patients with primary breast cancer with positive nodal deposits, diagnosed at the Maadi Military Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, during the year 2013. ER, PR and HER2 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in all samples Results: 48.3% of the included cases showed concordant results for both ER and PR receptors between the primary tumor and its nodal metastasis while 51.7% showed discordant results and the discordance level was statistically significant. On the other hand, 70% of the cases showed concordant Her2 results between the primary tumors and the nodal deposits, 30% showed discordant results and the difference was significant. Conclusions: The study indicated that the discordance in ER and PR receptor expression between the primary breast tumor and their nodal metastasis may be significant. The possible switch in the biomarker status during the disease progression is worth noting and may change the patient therapeutic planning. So, whether the treatment selection should be based on biomarkers in the lymph node is a topic for further studies and future clinical trials.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.2133-2137
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• 2012

Objective: To investigate the prognostic role of antigen KI-67 (Ki-67) and G1/S-specific cyclin-D1 (cyclin-D1) in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Methods: Immunohistochemical staining (IHS) was used to determine the protein expression of Ki-67 and cyclin-D1 in LSCC tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival curves was calculated with reference to Ki-67 and cyclin-D1 levels. Results: Cyclin-D1 and Ki67 were expressed in the nuclei of cancer cells. Among the total of 92 cancer tissues examined by immunohistochemistry, 60 (65.22%) had cyclin-D1 overexpression and 56 (60.87%) had Ki67 overexpression. Cyclin-D1 overexpression is associated with the advanced stage of the cancer (P=0.029), but not with gender, age, stage of cancer, histological differentiation, anatomical site, smoking history and alcohol consumption history. Ki67 overexpression is not associated with the advanced stage, gender, age, histological differentiation, anatomical site, smoking history and alcohol consumption history. A statistically significant correlation was found between lymph node status and the expression of Ki67 (p = 0.025). Overexpression of cyclin-D1 was correlated to shorter relapse-free survival period (P<0.001). Conclusions: Overexpression of cyclin-D1 can be used as a marker to predict relapse in patients with LSCC after primary curative resection.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.22.1-22.15
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• 2023

Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is one of the most aggressive cancer type of the urinary system. Metastatic KIRC patients have poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. Ankyrin 3 (ANK3) is a scaffold protein that plays important roles in maintaining physiological function of the kidney and its alteration is implicated in many cancers. In this study, we investigated differential expression of ANK3 in KIRC using GEPIA2, UALCAN, and HPA databases. Survival analysis was performed by GEPIA2, Kaplan-Meier plotter, and OS-kirc databases. Genetic alterations of ANK3 in KIRC were assessed using cBioPortal database. Interaction network and functional enrichment analyses of ANK3-correlated genes in KIRC were performed using GeneMANIA and Shiny GO, respectively. Finally, the TIMER2.0 database was used to assess correlation between ANK3 expression and immune infiltration in KIRC. We found that ANK3 expression was significantly decreased in KIRC compared to normal tissues. The KIRC patients with low ANK3 expression had poorer survival outcomes than those with high ANK3 expression. ANK3 mutations were found in 2.4% of KIRC patients and were frequently co-mutated with several genes with a prognostic significance. ANK3-correlated genes were significantly enriched in various biological processes, mainly involved in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway, in which positive correlations of ANK3 with PPARA and PPARG expressions were confirmed. Expression of ANK3 in KIRC was significantly correlated with infiltration level of B cell, CD8+ T cell, macrophage, and neutrophil. These findings suggested that ANK3 could serve as a prognostic biomarker and promising therapeutic target for KIRC.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.47-56
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• 2016

The identification of biomarkers for the early detection of acute kidney injury (AKI) is clinically important. Acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients is closely associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Conventional biomarkers, such as serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), are frequently used to diagnose AKI. However, these biomarkers increase only after significant structural damage has occurred. Recent efforts have focused on identification and validation of new noninvasive biomarkers for the early detection of AKI, prior to extensive structural damage. Furthermore, AKI biomarkers can provide valuable insight into the molecular mechanisms of this complex and heterogeneous disease. Our previous study suggested that pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), which is excreted in the urine, is a sensitive biomarker for nephrotoxicity. To appropriately and optimally utilize PKM2 as a biomarker for AKI requires its complete characterization. This review highlights the major studies that have addressed the diagnostic and prognostic predictive power of biomarkers for AKI and assesses the potential usage of PKM2 as an early biomarker for AKI. We summarize the current state of knowledge regarding the role of biomarkers and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of AKI. This review will elucidate the biological basis of specific biomarkers that will contribute to improving the early detection and diagnosis of AKI.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.1057-1060
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• 2013

Recent investigations have confirmed up-regulation of serum miR-21 and its diagnostic and prognostic value in several human malignancies. In this study, we examined serum miR-21 levels in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients, and explored its association with clinicopathological factors and prognosis. The results showed significantly higher serum miR-21 levels in EOC patients than in healthy controls. In addition, increased serum miR-21 expression was correlated with advanced FIGO stage, high tumor grade, and shortened overall survival. These findings indicate that serum miR-21 may serve as a novel diagnostic and prognostic marker, and be used as a therapeutic target for the treatment of EOC.