Comparative expression analysis of four breast cancer subtypes versus matched normal tissue from the same patients

Minimalist shoes running intervention can alter the plantar loading distribution and deformation of hallux valgus: A pilot study

BACKGROUND

Hallux valgus (HV) is one common deformity of the human foot. Metatarsal pain, gait deviation and foot function disorder may occur when HV is severe.

RESEARCH QUESTION

It was hypothesized that a 12-week minimalist shoes running intervention among mild and moderate hallux valgus males may alter foot morphology and plantar pressure distribution during walking and running.

METHODS

The foot morphology and plantar pressure data, in this study, were collected from eleven participants using the Easy-Foot-Scan (EFS) and Novel EMED force plate.

RESULTS

Compared to pre-intervention sessions, the hallux abductus angle and forefoot width decreased significantly with increased metatarsal waist girth in the post-intervention session. The peak pressure, maximum force and force time integral in the first metatarsal reduced significantly due to the distribution of plantar pressure to the central foot regions.

SIGNIFICANCE

The findings suggest that minimalist shoes may deform forefoot morphology and neutralize loading concentration for mild and moderate hallux valgus.

Genomic Changes in Normal Breast Tissue in Women at Normal Risk or at High Risk for Breast Cancer

Sporadic breast cancer develops through the accumulation of molecular abnormalities in normal breast tissue, resulting from exposure to estrogens and other carcinogens beginning at adolescence and continuing throughout life. These molecular changes may take a variety of forms, including numerical and structural chromosomal abnormalities, epigenetic changes, and gene expression alterations. To characterize these abnormalities, a review of the literature has been conducted to define the molecular changes in each of the above major genomic categories in normal breast tissue considered to be either at normal risk or at high risk for sporadic breast cancer. This review indicates that normal risk breast tissues (such as reduction mammoplasty) contain evidence of early breast carcinogenesis including loss of heterozygosity, DNA methylation of tumor suppressor and other genes, and telomere shortening. In normal tissues at high risk for breast cancer (such as normal breast tissue adjacent to breast cancer or the contralateral breast), these changes persist, and are increased and accompanied by aneuploidy, increased genomic instability, a wide range of gene expression differences, development of large cancerized fields, and increased proliferation. These changes are consistent with early and long-standing exposure to carcinogens, especially estrogens. A model for the breast carcinogenic pathway in normal risk and high-risk breast tissues is proposed. These findings should clarify our understanding of breast carcinogenesis in normal breast tissue and promote development of improved methods for risk assessment and breast cancer prevention in women.

Genes dysregulated to different extent or oppositely in estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers

Background

Directly comparing gene expression profiles of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) breast cancers cannot determine whether differentially expressed genes between these two subtypes result from dysregulated expression in ER+ cancer or ER− cancer versus normal controls, and thus would miss critical information for elucidating the transcriptomic difference between the two subtypes.

Principal Findings

Using microarray datasets from TCGA, we classified the genes dysregulated in both ER+ and ER− cancers versus normal controls into two classes: (i) genes dysregulated in the same direction but to a different extent, and (ii) genes dysregulated to opposite directions, and then validated the two classes in RNA-sequencing datasets of independent cohorts. We showed that the genes dysregulated to a larger extent in ER+ cancers than in ER− cancers enriched in glycerophospholipid and polysaccharide metabolic processes, while the genes dysregulated to a larger extent in ER− cancers than in ER+ cancers enriched in cell proliferation. Phosphorylase kinase and enzymes of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor biosynthesis were upregulated to a larger extent in ER+ cancers than in ER− cancers, whereas glycogen synthase and phospholipase A2 were downregulated to a larger extent in ER+ cancers than in ER− cancers. We also found that the genes oppositely dysregulated in the two subtypes significantly enriched with known cancer genes and tended to closely collaborate with the cancer genes. Furthermore, we showed the possibility that these oppositely dysregulated genes could contribute to carcinogenesis of ER+ and ER− cancers through rewiring different subpathways.

Conclusions

GPI-anchor biosynthesis and glycogenolysis were elevated and hydrolysis of phospholipids was depleted to a larger extent in ER+ cancers than in ER− cancers. Our findings indicate that the genes oppositely dysregulated in the two subtypes are potential cancer genes which could contribute to carcinogenesis of both ER+ and ER− cancers through rewiring different subpathways.