Predicting Prognosis and Tamoxifen Response in Breast Cancer. With a special focus on contralateral breast cancer.

One of the great challenges in breast cancer treatment today is to customize adjuvant treatment to each patient’s individual needs. To do this it is necessary to learn more about the prognostic and treatment predictive factors that determine the risk of relapse and response to a certain mode of treatment. This thesis describes studies on the effect of amplified in breast cancer 1 (AIB1), a coactivator of the oestrogen receptor, on prognosis and tamoxifen response through a controlled trial on premenopausal patients randomized to tamoxifen or a control group. AIB1 was found to be a negative prognostic factor, although patients with high AIB1 responded very well to tamoxifen. The findings were validated in two independent cohorts, one consisting of premenopausal patients not receiving tamoxifen, and the other of pre- and postmenopausal patients receiving tamoxifen. It has recently been suggested that the effect of AIB1 is modified by paired box 2 gene product (PAX2). PAX2 is a transcription factor important during embryogenesis, and may also play a role in carcinogenesis. This is the first time PAX2 has been investigated in well-defined cohorts of patients receiving or not receiving tamoxifen. PAX2 was not found to affect prognosis on its own, or to modify the effect of AIB1. The second part of this thesis focuses on contralateral breast cancer (CBC). Within their lifetime, previous breast cancer patients have a 2-20% risk of developing a second tumour in the contralateral breast. From the trial on premenopausal patients randomized to tamoxifen or control, it was found that without tamoxifen 12% developed CBC within a median follow-up period of 14 years. This risk was even higher in the youngest women (700) of patients with CBC in the Southern Healthcare Region of Sweden. From these data it was found that a short time interval between tumours was associated with a poorer prognosis, especially in young patients. This could indicate that some of these CBCs are in fact metastases of the first tumour, and would thus require different treatment. It could also be that tumours that develop soon after previous treatment have developed resistance to treatment and are of a more aggressive phenotype. Finally, it was found that patients who first noticed symptoms of their CBC themselves had a higher risk of developing metastases than patients diagnosed by mammography or clinical examination in a follow-up programme. The difference in prognosis in relation to mode of detection remained even when the time interval between tumours was ≥10 years, indicating that a long follow-up period is valuable

Prognosis, stage and oestrogen receptor status of contralateral breast cancer in relation to characteristics of the first tumour, prior endocrine treatment and radiotherapy.

A contralateral breast cancer (CBC) is today treated as an independent primary tumour, although recent data suggest risk and prognosis of CBC to be influenced by characteristics of and treatment given for the first tumour (BC1). We hereby investigate phenotypical and prognostic features of the second tumour (BC2) in relation to prior endocrine treatment and radiotherapy

A prophylactic subcutaneous dose of the anticoagulant tinzaparin does not influence qPCR-based assessment of circulating levels of miRNA in humans

Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have become increasingly popular biomarker candidates in various diseases. However, heparin-based anticoagulants might affect the detection of target miRNAs in blood samples during quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)- based analysis of miRNAs involving RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and the polymerase catalyzed reaction. Because low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) are widely used in routine healthcare, we aimed to investigate whether a prophylactic dose of the LMWH tinzaparin influences qPCR-based quantification of circulating miRNAs. A total of 30 subjects were included: 16 fracture patients with tinzaparin treatment and 14 non-fracture controls without anticoagulation therapy. To control for the effect of tinzaparin on miRNA analysis an identical concentration of synthetic miRNAs was added to plasma, isolated RNA and prepared complementary DNA (cDNA) from all samples in both groups. No significant difference was observed for cDNA synthesis or qPCR when comparing tinzaparin-treated patients with untreated controls. Among the tinzaparin-treated patients, plasma levels of six endogenous miRNAs (hsa-let-7i-5p, hsa-miR-30e-5p, hsa-miR-222-3p, hsa-miR-1-3p, hsamiR- 133a-3p, hsa-miR-133b) were measured before and one to six hours after a subcutaneous injection of tinzaparin 4500IU. No significant effect was observed for any of the investigated miRNAs. A prophylactic dose of 4500IU tinzaparin does not seem to affect cDNA synthesis or qRT-PCR-based quantification of circulating miRNAs

BioFACTS : biomarkers of rhabdomyolysis in the diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome - protocol for a prospective multinational, multicentre study involving patients with tibial fractures

Introduction The ischaemic pain of acute compartment syndrome (ACS) can be difficult to discriminate from the pain linked to an associated fracture. Lacking objective measures, the decision to perform fasciotomy is based on clinical findings and performed at a low level of suspicion. Biomarkers of muscle cell damage may help to identify and monitor patients at risk, similar to current routines for patients with acute myocardial infarction. This study will test the hypothesis that biomarkers of muscle cell damage can predict ACS in patients with tibial fractures. Methods and analysis Patients aged 15-65 years who have suffered a tibial fracture will be included. Plasma (P)-myoglobin and P-creatine phosphokinase will be analysed at 6-hourly intervals after admission to the hospital (for 48 hours) and-if applicable-after surgical fixation or fasciotomy (for 24 hours). In addition, if ACS is suspected at any other point in time, blood samples will be collected at 6-hourly intervals. An independent expert panel will assess the study data and will classify those patients who had undergone fasciotomy into those with ACS and those without ACS. All primary comparisons will be perforated between fracture patients with and without ACS. The area under the receiver operator characteristics curves will be used to identify the success of the biomarkers in discriminating between fracture patients who develop ACS and those who do not. Logistic regression analyses will be used to assess the discriminative abilities of the biomarkers to predict ACS corrected for prespecified covariates. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Regional Ethical Review Boards in Linkoping (2017/514-31) and Helsinki/Uusimaa (HUS/2500/2000). The BioFACTS study will be reported in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology recommendations.Peer reviewe

Extracellular vesicle characteristics and micro RNA content in cerebral palsy and typically developed individuals at rest and in response to aerobic exercise.

In this study, the properties of circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) were examined in cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developed (TD) individuals at rest and after aerobic exercise, focusing on the size, concentration, and microRNA cargo of EVs. Nine adult individuals with CP performed a single exercise bout consisting of 45 min of Frame Running, and TD participants completed either 45 min of cycling (n = 10; TD EX) or were enrolled as controls with no exercise (n = 10; TD CON). Blood was drawn before and 30 min after exercise and analyzed for EV concentration, size, and microRNA content. The size of EVs was similar in CP vs. TD, and exercise had no effect. Individuals with CP had an overall lower concentration (~25%, p \u3c 0.05) of EVs. At baseline, let-7a, let-7b and let-7e were downregulated in individuals with CP compared to TD (p \u3c 0.05), while miR-100 expression was higher, and miR-877 and miR-4433 lower in CP compared to TD after exercise (p \u3c 0.05). Interestingly, miR-486 was upregulated ~2-fold in the EVs of CP vs. TD both at baseline and after exercise. We then performed an in silico analysis of miR-486 targets and identified the satellite cell stemness factor Pax7 as a target of miR-486. C2C12 myoblasts were cultured with a miR-486 mimetic and RNA-sequencing was performed. Gene enrichment analysis revealed that several genes involved in sarcomerogenesis and extracellular matrix (ECM) were downregulated. Our data suggest that circulating miR-486 transported by EVs is elevated in individuals with CP and that miR-486 alters the transcriptome of myoblasts affecting both ECM- and sarcomerogenesis-related genes, providing a link to the skeletal muscle alterations observed in individuals with C

Effect of physical inactivity on the oxidation of saturated and monounsaturated dietary Fatty acids: results of a randomized trial

OBJECTIVES: Changes in the way dietary fat is metabolized can be considered causative in obesity. The role of sedentary behavior in this defect has not been determined. We hypothesized that physical inactivity partitions dietary fats toward storage and that a resistance exercise training program mitigates storage