breast cancer

A research team leaded by Elisabete Castanheira and Paulo Coutinho, of the Centre of Physics of University of Minho, has been focused on the development of magnetic liposomes (“magnetoliposomes”), which combine magnetic nanoparticles and liposomes. The developed systems have been tested as nanocarriers for new potential antitumor drugs. The latter have been obtained at the Centre of Chemistry of University of Minho (Maria João Queiroz’s research group). In this study, recently published, a new molecule especially active against breast cancer was tested.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women, being 70%-80% of the tumors estrogen-receptor positive. One of the main therapeutic approaches applied is the use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs), since they decrease the synthesis of estrogens, which are necessary for the growth of this type of tumors. Although, despite its therapeutic success, the AIs used in the clinic induce some adverse effects, namely the occurrence of endocrine resistance.

O cancro de mama é a causa mais comum de morte por cancro em mulheres, sendo 70%-80% dos tumores recetor de estrogénio positivo. Uma das principais estratégias terapêuticas utilizadas é o uso de inibidores da aromatase (AIs), uma vez que diminuem a síntese de estrogénios necessários ao crescimento destes tumores. No entanto, apesar do seu sucesso terapêutico, os AIs utilizados na clínica induzem alguns efeitos adversos, nomeadamente o desenvolvimento de resistência endócrina.

This work was performed at Breast Cancer Research Laboratory, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA. We employed the technique of laser capture microdissection to obtain selected chosen cells without contamination of other cells that could interfere with final results of molecular analysis. Results confirmed that genetic alterations at specific loci of 9p occur earlier than discernable morphological or histopathological alterations and the presence of genetic alterations within morphologically normal breast tissue adjacent to carcinoma foci was also assessed.

In this study, a comparative analysis of the volatile metabolomic signature of BC cell lines (T-47D, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7) and normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), was carried out, in order to identify BC-specific VOCs and to identify a set of markers that could hopefully be correlated with VOCs released in vivo by BC cells.

Recently it was published in Histopathology a work developed by the Department of Pathology of the Ipatimup Diagnostics in collaboration with Hospital Pedro Hispano and Hospital Prof. Doctor Fernando Fonseca concerning the minimum number of neoplastic cells needed to quantify robustly the amplification of the HER2 gene in breast cancer.

Recentemente foi publicado no Histopathology um trabalho desenvolvido pelo Laboratório de Anatomia Patológica do Ipatimup Diagnósticos em colaboração com os serviços de Anatomia Patológica do Hospital Pedro Hispano e do Hospital Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca sobre o número mínimo de células neoplásicas necessárias para quantificar de forma reprodutível a amplificação do gene HER2 em cancro da mama.

Recently, a paper developed by i3S/Ipatimup on the role of stromal tumor-infiltrating linfocytes (TILs) and PDL1 expression in breast carcinomas was published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.