An Immunohistochemistry Study of Tissue Bcl-2 Expression and Its Serum Levels in Breast Cancer Patients

Prognostic value of circulating Bcl-2 and anti-p53 antibodies in patients with breast cancer: A long term follow-up (17.5 years)

BACKGROUND

Apoptosis inhibition is a major tumorigenic factor. Bcl-2 dysregulation and TP53 mutation status, which may correlate with autoantibody generation, contribute to impaired apoptosis.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of circulating Bcl-2 and anti-p53 antibodies (p53Abs) in a 17.5-year follow-up of breast cancer patients. We also analyzed the correlations of Bcl-2 and p53Abs with various clinicopathological parameters in order to assess their impact on tumor aggressiveness.

METHODS

Serum Bcl-2 and p53Abs levels were analyzed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 82 patients with invasive breast cancer and twenty individuals without malignancy.

RESULTS

Serum Bcl-2 and p53Abs levels in breast cancer patients were significantly higher than those in controls. Patients with high levels of Bcl-2 (cut-off 200 U/ml) had a poorer prognosis (17.5-year survival) than those with lower Bcl-2 values. In combined analysis the subgroup of patients with elevated p53Abs (cut-off 15 U/ml) and elevated Bcl-2 (cut-offs 124 U/ml and 200 U/ml) had the worse prognosis in 17.5-year survival. In correlation analysis p53Abs and Bcl-2 were associated with unfavorable clinicopathological parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that breast cancer patients with high serum levels of p53Abs and Bcl-2 present an especially unfavorable group in a long follow-up.

Apoptosis in ischemic heart disease

Apoptosis plays an important role in the myocardial loss after acute myocardial infarction and participates in the process of subsequent left ventricular remodeling and development of symptomatic heart failure. Finding a sensitive apoptotic marker that would help in prognostic stratification of patients after acute myocardial infarction and offer new therapeutic strategies is thus of a great importance. Several studies suggest that tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) represents a very promising marker of prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. This review article provides an overview of current knowledge on the role of apoptosis in ischemic heart disease and highlights potentially beneficial apoptotic markers in clinical practice.

Aspirin-induced Bcl-2 translocation and its phosphorylation in the nucleus trigger apoptosis in breast cancer cells

Here, we report that B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) is a novel target molecule of aspirin in breast cancer cells. Aspirin influenced the formation of a complex by Bcl-2 and FKBP38 and induced the nuclear translocation of Bcl-2 and its phosphorylation. These events inhibited cancer cell proliferation and subsequently enhanced MCF-7 breast cancer cell apoptosis. Bcl-2 knockdown using small interfering RNA (siRNA) delayed apoptotic cell death, which correlated with increased proliferation following aspirin exposure. In contrast, Bcl-2 overexpression enhanced the onset of aspirin-induced apoptosis, which was also associated with a significant increase in Bcl-2 phosphorylation in the nucleus. Therefore, this study may provide novel insight into the molecular mechanism of aspirin, particularly its anticancer effects in Bcl-2- and estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells.

Mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in patients with adenocarcinoma of the breast: Correlation with histological grade and menopausal status

The present study was designed to investigate the abnormalities in the expression of apoptosis-associated proteins that lead to the progression of breast cancer. Sixty breast cancer patients histologically categorized as grade I, II and III, and as pre- and post-menopausal were chosen for the study. We analyzed the expression of the anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins as well as cytochrome C, Apaf-1 and caspases in tumour and adjacent tissues by immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses. The breast tumours analyzed in the present study were characterized by increased expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1, associated with downregulation in the expression of Bax, cytosolic cytochrome C, Apaf-1 and caspases. The magnitude of the changes was however more pronounced in premenopausal patients and in grade III tumours. The results of the present study confirm that differential expression patterns of Bcl-2 family proteins and caspases are involved in evasion of apoptosis and in the progression of breast cancer.