Vascular endothelial growth factor and breast cancer risk

Screen-Printed Electrodes as Low-Cost Sensors for Breast Cancer Biomarker Detection

This review explores the emerging role of screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) in the detection of breast cancer biomarkers. We discuss the fundamental principles and fabrication techniques of SPEs, highlighting their adaptability and cost-effectiveness. The review examines various modification strategies, including nanomaterial incorporation, polymer coatings, and biomolecule immobilization, which enhance sensor performance. We analyze the application of SPEs in detecting protein, genetic, and metabolite biomarkers associated with breast cancer, presenting recent advancements and innovative approaches. The integration of SPEs with microfluidic systems and their potential in wearable devices for continuous monitoring are explored. While emphasizing the promising aspects of SPE-based biosensors, we also address current challenges in sensitivity, specificity, and real-world applicability. The review concludes by discussing future perspectives, including the potential for early screening and therapy monitoring, and the steps required for clinical implementation. This comprehensive overview aims to stimulate further research and development in SPE-based biosensors for improved breast cancer management.

A novel cross-communication of HIF-1α and HIF-2α with Wnt signaling in TNBC and influence of hypoxic microenvironment in the formation of an organ-on-chip model of breast cancer

The microenvironment role is very important in cancer development. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition of the cancer cells depends upon specific signaling and microenvironmental conditions, such as hypoxic conditions. The crosstalk between hypoxia and Wnt signaling through some molecular mechanism in TNBC is related. Cross-communication between hypoxia and Wnt signaling in cancer cells is known, but the detailed mechanism in TNBC is unknown. This review includes the role of the hypoxia microenvironment in TNBC and the novel crosstalk of the Wnt signaling and hypoxia. When targeted, the new pathway and crosstalk link may be a solution for metastatic TNBC and chemoresistance. The microenvironment influences cancer's metastasis, which changes from person to person. Therefore, organ-on-a-chip is a very novel model to test the drugs clinically before going for human trials, focusing on personalized medications can be done. The effect of the hypoxia microenvironment on breast cancer stem cells is still unknown. Apart from all the published papers, this paper mainly focuses only on the hypoxic microenvironment and its association with the growth of TNBC. The medicines or small proteins, drugs, mimics, and inhibitors targeting wnt and hypoxia genes are consolidated in this review paper.

Current and Prospective of Breast Cancer Biomarkers

Biomarkers have shown great promise over the past decade the process of drug development more effective and have become an integral part of diagnosis of diseases. Biosensors were integrated with biomarker detection and point-of-care detection for signal amplification, high specificity and sensitivity, rapid response time, low cost, simplicity and multi-analytical testing. In order to detect more sensitively, these particular biomarkers have been explored with the possibility of real-time measurements in order to develop simple and compact systems which can analyze complex specimens. Various biosensors including electrochemical biosensors have recently been developed based on disease-specific biomarkers in the diagnosis of cancer disease. The main objective of the book chapter is to review research with new materials/methods in electrochemical biosensing techniques to detection of breast cancer biomarkers and evaluating latest techniques for detection of important analytes in real samples. In this book chapter, the recent development of electrochemical biosensors of breast cancer biomarkers will be reviewed. Furthermore, recent and future trend application of breast cancer biomarkers will be discussed.

PR1P Stabilizes VEGF and Upregulates Its Signaling to Reduce Elastase-induced Murine Emphysema

Emphysema is a progressive and fatal lung disease with no cure that is characterized by thinning, enlargement, and destruction of alveoli, leading to impaired gas exchange. Disease progression is due in part to dysregulation of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) signaling in the lungs and increased lung-cell apoptosis. Here we asked whether PR1P (Prominin-1-derived peptide), a novel short peptide we designed that increases VEGF binding to endothelial cells, could be used to improve outcome in in vitro and in vivo models of emphysema. We used computer simulation and in vitro and in vivo studies to show that PR1P upregulated endogenous VEGF receptor-2 signaling by binding VEGF and preventing its proteolytic degradation. In so doing, PR1P mitigated toxin-induced lung-cell apoptosis, including from cigarette-smoke extract in vitro and from LPS in vivo in mice. Remarkably, inhaled PR1P led to significantly increased VEGF concentrations in murine lungs within 30 minutes that remained greater than twofold above that of control animals 24 hours later. Finally, inhaled PR1P reduced acute lung injury in 4- and 21-day elastase-induced murine emphysema models. Taken together, these results highlight the potential of PR1P as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of emphysema or other lung diseases characterized by VEGF signaling dysregulation.

Docosahexaenoic acid reverses the promoting effects of breast tumor cell-derived exosomes on endothelial cell migration and angiogenesis

AIM

As a natural compound, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) exerts anti-cancer and anti-angiogenesis functions through exosomes; however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms.

MAIN METHODS

Breast cancer (BC) cells were treated with DHA (50 μM) and then tumor cell-derived exosomes (TDEs) were collected and characterized by electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and western blot analyses. By the time the cells were treated with DHA, RT-qPCR was used to investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the selected pro- and anti-angiogenic microRNAs (miRNAs). The quantification of secreted VEGF protein was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The effects of TDEs on endothelial cell angiogenesis were explored by transwell cell migration and in vitro vascular tube formation assays.

KEY FINDINGS

DHA treatment caused a significant and time-dependent decrease in the expression and secretion of VEGF in/from BC cells. This also increased expression of anti-angiogenic miRNAs (i.e. miR-34a, miR-125b, miR-221, and miR-222) while decreased levels of pro-angiogenic miRNAs (i.e. miR-9, miR-17-5p, miR-19a, miR-126, miR-130a, miR-132, miR-296, and miR-378) in exosomes derived from DHA-treated BC cells, TDE (DHA+). While treatment with exosomes (100 μg/ml) obtained from untreated BC cells, TDE (DHA-), enhanced the expression of VEGF-A in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), incubation with DHA or TDE (DHA+) led to the significant decrease of VEGF-A transcript level in these cells. We indicated that the incubation with TDE (DHA+) could significantly decrease endothelial cell proliferation and migration and also the length and number of tubes made by HUVECs in comparison with endothelial cells incubated with exosomes obtained from untreated BC cells.

SIGNIFICANCE

DHA alters angiogenesis by shifting the up-regulation of exosomal miRNA contents from pro-angiogenic to anti-angiogenic, resulting in the inhibition of endothelial cell angiogenesis. These data can help to figure out DHA's anti-cancer function, maybe its use in cancer therapy.

Soluble VE-cadherin in metastatic breast cancer: an independent prognostic factor for both progression-free survival and overall survival

Background:

Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) represent a heterogeneous group, with large differences in outcomes from individual patients. VE-cadherin, an endothelial-specific cadherin, was shown to promote tumour proliferation and angiogenesis. Soluble VE-cadherin has been recently associated to breast cancer progression. This study was designed to investigate the prognosis significance of soluble VE-cadherin in hormone-refractory MBC.

Methods:

Between 2004 and 2007, 150 patients with a fully documented history of hormone-refractory MBC were included in the prospective SEMTOF study. Serum concentrations of VE-cadherin were measured at inclusion for 141 patients and 6 weeks after the beginning of chemotherapy, using a sandwich enzyme immunoassay.

Results:

The presence of high levels of serum VE-cadherin was significantly correlated to a shorter progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). In a multivariate analysis along with clinical and biologic prognostic parameters, high serum VE-cadherin level was an independent adverse prognostic variable for PFS (median PFS 9.7 (IC95: 8; 11.9) vs 5.8 (IC95: 4.1; 8) months P=0.0008) and OS (median OS 34 (IC95: 26.6; 47.1) vs 14.8 (IC95: 9.3; 21.4) months P=0.0007). Moreover, VE-cadherin decrease during chemotherapy was also associated with good prognosis.

Conclusions:

Serum VE-cadherin levels correlate to poorer survival in patients with hormone-refractory MBC. As sVE-cadherin reflects tumour angiogenesis, this could have therapeutic implications for antiangiogenic treatment.

A prospective study of angiogenic markers and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in the prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer screening trial

PURPOSE

Pro-angiogenic factors are positively associated with breast tumor staging and poorer prognosis, but their role in the etiology of breast cancer has not been assessed.

METHODS

We measured serum levels of the pro-angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF), and placental growth factor (PlGF) and anti-angiogenic soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) in 352 incident breast cancer cases [mean age at diagnosis 67 (range 55-83)] and 352 non-cases in the prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian screening trial (women enrolled 1993-2001, followed through 2005) matched on age and date of enrollment. Cases were followed on average 4.2 years from blood draw to diagnosis, range 3.9-12.8 years; 53 % were estrogen receptor positive/progesterone receptor positive (ER+/PR+), and 13 % were ER-/PR-. Quartile-specific hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using weighted Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for known breast cancer risk factors. An ordinal variable for the angiogenic markers was used to test for trend in the HR.

RESULTS

Comparing the highest to lowest quartile, multivariable HR were 0.90 for VEGF (95 % CI 0.33-2.43, p trend = 0.88), 1.38 for sFlt-1 (95 % CI 0.63-3.04, p trend = 0.63), and 0.62 for PlGF (95 % CI 0.19-2.00, p trend = 0.73). Risk patterns were not altered when all angiogenic markers were included in the model simultaneously, or by restricting analyses to invasive breast cancers, to cases diagnosed two or more years after blood collection or to ER+ tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no evidence of an increased breast cancer risk associated with circulating levels of pro-angiogenic markers VEGF and PlGF or a reduced risk with circulating levels of anti-angiogenic marker sFlt-1.

Detection of serum VEGF and MMP-9 levels by Luminex multiplexed assays in patients with breast infiltrative ductal carcinoma

The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of the combined detection of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) by Luminex multiplexed assays for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of breast cancer. Preoperative levels of serum VEGF and MMP-9 were detected via a lipid chip-based method in 301 breast cancer cases, 83 breast fibroadenoma cases and 40 healthy adults. Postoperative levels of VEGF and MMP-9 were also detected in 118 breast cancer cases. The levels of serum VEGF and MMP-9 in patients with breast infiltrative ductal carcinoma (IDC) were higher than those in the breast fibroadenoma and healthy control groups (P<0.05); there was no statistically significant difference between the breast fibroadenoma and healthy groups (P>0.05). The levels of VEGF and MMP-9 were shown to correlate with the clinical stage, tumor size and the lymph node metastasis status. However, the levels were not associated with age or gender (P>0.05). In addition, the serum level of MMP-9 exhibited a significantly correlation with the VEGF level (r=0.601, P<0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that in patients with IDC, serum levels of VEGF and MMP-9 prior to surgery were significantly higher than those following surgery (P<0.05). Therefore, the serum levels of VEGF and MMP-9 can be used as markers for the diagnosis of breast IDC and may also be valuable for the prediction of lymph nodes metastasis.

Risk factors of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The etiology of breast cancer might be explained by 2 mechanisms, namely, differentiation and proliferation of breast epithelial cells mediated by hormonal factors. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to update effects of risk factors for both mechanisms. MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched up to January 2011. Studies that assessed association between oral contraceptives (OC), hormonal replacement therapy (HRT), diabetes mellitus (DM), or breastfeeding and breast cancer were eligible. Relative risks with their confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted. A random-effects method was applied for pooling the effect size. The pooled odds ratios of OC, HRT, and DM were 1.10 (95% CI = 1.03-1.18), 1.23 (95% CI = 1.21-1.25), and 1.14 (95% CI = 1.09-1.19), respectively, whereas the pooled odds ratio of ever-breastfeeding was 0.72 (95% CI = 0.58-0.89). Our study suggests that OC, HRT, and DM might increase risks, whereas breastfeeding might lower risks of breast cancer.