Primary Fibrosarcoma of the Breast: A Case Report

A primary fibrosarcoma of the breast is a rare tumor. Here we report on a case of a primary fibrosarcoma of the breast that presented as a palpable left breast mass in a 47-year-old woman. The physical examination revealed a 3 cm sized, round mass in the left upper outer breast. The mammograms revealed a 3 cm sized, partially circumscribed and partially obscured, high density mass in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. An ultrasonogram demonstrated a 3 cm sized, ovoid, circumscribed and hypoechoic mass with peripheral increased vascularity on Doppler imaging. Surgical excision was performed and the pathology revealed a low grade fibrosarcoma

Protective Effect of Sauchinone Against Regional Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury: Inhibition of p38 MAPK and JNK Death Signaling Pathways

Sauchinone has been known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. We determined whether sauchinone is beneficial in regional myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Rats were subjected to 20 min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by 2 hr reperfusion. Sauchinone (10 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally 30 min before the onset of ischemia. The infarct size was measured 2 hr after resuming the perfusion. The expression of cell death kinases (p38 and JNK) and reperfusion injury salvage kinases (phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinases-Akt, extra-cellular signal-regulated kinases [ERK1/2])/glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β was determined 5 min after resuming the perfusion. Sauchinone significantly reduced the infarct size (29.0% ± 5.3% in the sauchinone group vs 44.4% ± 6.1% in the control, P < 0.05). Accordingly, the phosphorylation of JNK and p38 was significantly attenuated, while that of ERK1/2, Akt and GSK-3β was not affected. It is suggested that sauchinone protects against regional myocardial I/R injury through inhibition of phosphorylation of p38 and JNK death signaling pathways

Prevalence of BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations in Korean Breast Cancer Patients

The incidence of breast cancer in Korea has been increasing in recent years, such that it is now the most common female cancer. Breast cancer in Korea is characterized by an earlier age of onset than in Western countries, suggesting that it would be related with genetic background. We assayed germline mutations in the BRCA genes to evaluate their genetic pathology in Korean breast cancer patients. The study subjects consisted of 173 patients at clinically higher risk and 109 unselected patients. Germline mutations in the entire coding sequences of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were analyzed by Conformation-Sensitive Gel Electrophoresis (CSGE), and any aberrantly-sized band was sequenced. BRCA mutations were present in 12.7% of the high risk patients, compared with 2.8% of the unselected patients. Among high risk patients, mutations were most prevalent in patients with a family history of breast or first-degree ovarian cancer (22.1%), followed by those with male breast cancer (20%), bilateral breast cancer (20%), multiple organ cancer including breast (13%) and younger breast cancer patients (aged <35 yr) (8.1%). Moreover, BRCA mutations were detected in 34.8% of patients having two high-risk factors. These findings suggest that BRCA gene mutation analysis should be performed on Korean patients with high-risk factors for breast cancer

Metastatic Small Cell Carcinoma of the Breast from Cancer of the Uterine Cervix: A Case Report

We report here on a case of 51-year-old woman with metastatic small cell carcinoma of the breast that came from her cancer of the uterine cervix. She underwent radical hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy due to small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix, and adjuvant radiotherapy was administered to the pelvis. Breast metastasis with a palpable mass then occurred 3 months after the primary surgery. Simple mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy were performed. She initially showed a good response to the therapy, yet she ultimately died of multiple metastases with a fulminating disease course. This is an extremely rare case, and only 1 similar case has been reported earlier, so we report on this case along with a review of the relevant literature

Cordyceps militaris Induces Immunogenic Cell Death and Enhances Antitumor Immunogenic Response in Breast Cancer

Cordyceps militaris has been widely used as a traditional medicine in East Asia. Its effects against breast cancer have been reported previously. However, whether C. militaris-induced breast cancer cell death is immunogenic remains unelucidated. This study aimed to determine whether ethanolic extracts of C. militaris (CM-EE) could induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) in breast cancer immunotherapy to improve the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Human and mouse breast cancer cells were treated with various concentrations of CM-EE for 72 h, and cytotoxicity was measured using the sulforhodamine B assay. Flow cytometry was used to assess cell death with annexin V/7-AAD staining and measure the surface exposure of damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules including calreticulin, HSP70, and HSP90. Western blot for cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) was used to confirm apoptotic cell death. The immunogenicity of CM-EE-induced dead cells was evaluated using the CFSE dilution assay. CM-EE reduced the viability of human (MCF7, MDA-MB-231, HS578T, and SKBR3) and mouse (4T1-neu-HA, TUBO-HA, and TUBO-P2J-HA) breast cancer cells. The IC50 was 25–50 µg/ml in human breast cancer cells and 10–50 µg/ml in mouse breast cancer cells at 72 h. CM-EE-treated breast cancer cells were positively stained by annexin V, cleaved PARP, and cleaved caspase 3/7 which were increased upon CM-EE treatment. Surface exposure of DAMP molecules was increased in dose- and time-dependent manners. The CFSE dilution assay revealed that dendritic cells fed with CM-EE-treated breast cancer cells successfully stimulated tumor-specific T cell proliferation without inhibiting DC function and T cell proliferation. The expression of PD-L1 mRNA and protein level was increased in dose-dependent manners. In addition, CM-EE also potentiated the cytotoxic activity of tumor-specific T cells. CM-EE can induce immunogenic and apoptotic cell death in breast cancer cells, and it is a good candidate for cancer immunotherapy and may improve the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors

Migration Inhibitory Factor in Conditioned Medium from Human Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Stimulates Hair Growth

Conventional therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) focus on cell replacement and differentiation; however, increasing evidence suggests that most of their therapeutic effects are carried out by their various secretions. This study investigated the application of conditioned medium (CM) from human umbilical cord blood-derived MSCs (hUCB-MSCs) to improve hair growth and developed a method to reliably produce this optimized CM. Primed MSC-derived CM (P-CM) with combinations of TGF-&beta;1 and LiCl was optimized by comparing its effects on the cell viability of dermal papilla cells (DPCs). P-CM significantly increased the viability of DPCs compared to CM. The secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in DPCs was regulated by the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the P-CM secreted by MSCs. These findings suggest that P-CM can improve the efficacy in hair growth via a paracrine mechanism and that MIF in P-CM exerts hair growth-promoting effects via a VEGF-related &beta;-catenin and p-GSK-3&beta; [SER9] signaling pathway. Furthermore, clinical trials have shown that 5% P-CM improved androgenetic alopecia through producing an increased hair density, thickness, and growth rate, suggesting that this topical agent may be a novel and effective treatment option for patients with androgenetic alopecia