Determination of TGFβ1 protein level in human primary breast cancers and its relationship with survival

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ)1 is thought to be implicated in breast cancer progression. However, data about the influence of TGFβ1 on breast cancer development are conflicting. To clarify the clinical relevance of TGFβ1, TGFβ1 protein level has been measured by enzyme-immoassay in 193 breast tumour samples. We found that 94.3% of patients expressed TGFβ1 with a range of 0–684 pg mg−1 protein. In the overall population, an increase of tumoral TGFβ1 was observed in premenopausal patients when compared to postmenopausal subgroup (P=0.0006). When patients were subdivided according to nodal status, TGFβ1 was correlated to type-1 plasminogen activator inhibitor in the node-negative subgroup (P=0.040). Multivariate analysis revealed that, after lymph node status (P=0.0002) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (P=0.004), TGFβ1 was an independent prognostic marker for DFS (P=0.005) in the overall population. In the node-negative population, TGFβ1 was the prominent prognostic factor (P=0.010). In the same population, Kaplan–Meier curves demonstrated that high TGFβ1 level was correlated with a shorter disease-free survival (P=0.020). These data suggest that the measurement of tumoral TGFβ1 protein level, especially for node-negative patients, might help to identify a high-risk population early in tumour progression

Frequency and genome load of Epstein-Barr virus in 509 breast cancers from different geographical areas

Since the few data exploring a possible association between Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and breast cancer are conflicting, we investigated this association together with the influences of geographical areas. 509 breast cancers were sampled from areas with varying risks of nasopharynx carcinoma (NPC) such as North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia, high-risk area); southern France (Marseille, intermediate-risk area); and northern Europe (northern France, the Netherlands and Denmark; low-risk areas). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of a subregion of EBV BamHIC encoding the EBERs demonstrated that 31.8% of the tumours contained the viral genome. No significant differences were observed among the geographical areas. However, positive samples showed higher loads of the EBV genome in the NPC high- and intermediate-risk areas than in the low-risk areas. EBV type 1 was the dominant strain. In situ hybridization studies using a35S-labelled riboprobe for EBER1 and a laser capture microdissection, combined with quantitative PCR, showed that EBV localization was restricted to some tumour epithelial cell clusters. EBV could not be detected in the stroma. Considering the whole population covered, the presence of the EBV genome was not correlated with age, menopausal status, tumour, size, nodal status or histological grade. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www. bjcancer.co

Quantitative characterization of a biological membrane by means of its spatial autocovariance.

Profiles for the exoplasmic face (EF) of the freeze-fractured plasma membrane from the root storage tissue of red beets are reconstructed by microdensitometry of micrographs of surface-shadowed-platinum carbon replicas. Autocovariance functions (ACFs) are computed from those profiles. The initial portions of the ACFs have a Gaussian form whose parameters (root mean square surface roughness and autocovariance length) are estimated. The parameter estimates are used to show that the pits on the EF faces are in good complementarity with the intramembrane particles seen on the complementary protoplasmic fracture faces

Towards an Understanding of Ecological Challenges of Second Language Teaching: A Critical Review

International audienc

Conversione di potenza per il collegamento alla rete di distribuzione a media tensione di aerogenratori a velocit' variabile ad ampio spettro

Memoria presentata alla 90. Riunione annuale A.E.I. Lecce, 8-11 ottobre 1989SIGLEITItal