Transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) variant is associated with familial breast cancer risk: a case-control study

BACKGROUND: The transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) is a critical component of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Aberrant TCF7L2 expression modifies Wnt signaling and mediates oncogenic effects through the upregulation of c-MYC and cyclin D. Genetic alterations in TCF7L2 may therefore affect cancer risk. Recently, TCF7L2 variants, including the microsatellite marker DG10S478 and the nearly perfectly linked SNP rs12233372, were identified to associate with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We investigated the effect of the TCF7L2 rs12255372 variant on familial breast cancer (BC) risk by means of TaqMan allelic discrimination, analyzing BRCA1/2 mutation-negative index patients of 592 German BC families and 735 control individuals. RESULTS: The T allele of rs12255372 showed an association with borderline significance (OR = 1.19, 95% C.I. = 1.01-1.42, P = 0.04), and the Cochran-Armitage test for trend revealed an allele dose-dependent association of rs12255372 with BC risk (P(trend )= 0.04). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest a possible influence of TCF7L2 rs12255372 on the risk of familial BC

Nitrogen-doped Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes-MnCo2O4 microsphere as electrocatalyst for efficient oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen-doped Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (N-doped MWCNT)/MnCo2O4 hybrid is synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed the single phase formation of cubic spinel structured MnCo2O4 and their composites. The presence of D and G band of MWCNT is identified through Raman spectral analysis. The elemental oxidation state and nitrogen content is obtained using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which elucidates that Co and Mn exists in multivalence state and the nitrogen functional groups are in pyrolytic and pyridinic-type. FE-SEM shows the microsphere formation of MnCo2O4 and size exhibits in the range of 6-9 μm. The N-doped MWCNT/MnCo2O4 hybrid catalyst exhibits an improved oxygen reduction electrocatalytic activity in an aqueous alkaline medium when compared with pristine MnCo2O4. © 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.1