The immune system seems to play a fundamental role in breast cancer responsiveness to chemotherapy. We investigated two peripheral indicators of immunity/inflammation, i.e. neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), in order to reveal a possible relationship with pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with early or locally advanced breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT).We retrospectively analyzed 373 consecutive patients affected by breast cancer and candidates to NACT. The complete blood cell count before starting NACT was evaluated to calculate NLR and PLR. ROC curve analysis determined threshold values of 2.42 and 104.47 as best cut-off values for NLR and PLR, respectively. The relationships between NLR/PLR and pCR, along with other clinical-pathological characteristics, were evaluated by Pearson's c 2 or Fisher's exact test as appropriate. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using a logistic regression model. NLR and PLR were not significantly associated with pCR if analyzed separately. However, when combining NLR and PLR, patients with a NLR low /PLR low profile achieved a significantly higher rate of pCR compared to those with NLR high and/or PLR high (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.22e4.27, p 0.009). Importantly, the predictive value of NLR low /PLR low was independent from common prognostic factors such as grading, Ki67, and molecular subtypes.The combination of NLR and PLR may reflect patients' immunogenic phenotype. Low levels of both NLR and PLR may thus indicate a status of immune system activation that may predict pCR in breast cancer patients treated with NACT.

We defined the intestinal nuclear hormone receptor map, which indicates that the localization pattern of a receptor in normal intestine predicts the modulation of its expression in tumors. Our results are useful to select those nuclear receptors that could be used eventually as early diagnostic markers or targeted for clinical intervention in intestinal polyposis and cancer.

BackgroundPancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer death. Combination therapies with classical chemotherapeutic agents improved treatment of advanced PC at the cost of a relevant toxicity, but the 5-year survival rate remains below 5%. Consequently, new therapeutic options for this disease are urgently needed. In this study, we explored the effect of two repurposed drug candidates nelfinavir and nitroxoline, approved for non-anticancer human use, in PC cell lines. Nelfinavir and nitroxoline were tested as single agents, or in combinations with or without erlotinib, a targeted drug approved for PC treatment.MethodsThe effects of the drugs on the viability of AsPC-1, Capan-2 and BxPC-3 PC cell lines were assessed by MTT. The impact of the treatments on cell cycle distribution and apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The effects of treatments on proteins relevant in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis were evaluated by western blot. Self-renewal capacity of PC cell lines after drug treatments was assessed using a clonogenic assay.ResultsWhen used as single agents, nelfinavir and nitroxoline decreased viability, affected cell cycle and reduced the expression of relevant cell cycle proteins. The effects on apoptosis were variable among PC cell lines. Moreover, these agents drastically impaired clonogenic activity of the three PC cell lines. Combinations of nelfinavir and nitroxoline, with or without erlotinib, resulted in dose- and cell-dependent synergistic effects on cell viability. These effects were paralleled by cell cycle alterations and more consistent apoptosis induction as compared to single agents. Treatments with drug combinations induced drastic impairment of clonogenic activity in the three cell lines.ConclusionsThis study shows that two non-antitumor drugs, nelfinavir and nitroxoline, as single agents or in combination have antitumor effects that appear comparable, or in some case more pronounced than those of erlotinib in three PC cell lines. Our results support repurposing of these approved drugs as single agents or in combination for PC treatment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-018-0904-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThe spectrum of BRCA1/2 genetic variation in breast-ovarian cancer patients has been scarcely investigated outside Europe and North America, with few reports for South America, where Amerindian founder effects and recent multiracial immigration are predicted to result in high genetic diversity. We describe here the results of BRCA1/BRCA2 germline analysis in an Argentinean series of breast/ovarian cancer patients selected for young age at diagnosis or breast/ovarian cancer family history.MethodsThe study series (134 patients) included 37 cases diagnosed within 40 years of age and no family history (any ethnicity, fully-sequenced), and 97 cases with at least 2 affected relatives (any age), of which 57 were non-Ashkenazi (fully-sequenced) and 40 Ashkenazi (tested only for the founder mutations c.66_67delAG and c.5263insC in BRCA1 and c.5946delT in BRCA2).DiscussionWe found 24 deleterious mutations (BRCA1:16; BRCA2: 8) in 38/134 (28.3%) patients, of which 6/37 (16.2%) within the young age group, 15/57 (26.3%) within the non-Ahkenazi positive for family history; and 17/40 (42.5%) within the Ashkenazi. Seven pathogenetic mutations were novel, five in BRCA1: c.1502_1505delAATT, c.2626_2627delAA c.2686delA, c.2728 C > T, c.3758_3759delCT, two in BRCA2: c.7105insA, c.793 + 1delG. We also detected 72 variants of which 54 previously reported and 17 novel, 33 detected in an individual patient. Four missense variants of unknown clinical significance, identified in 5 patients, are predicted to affect protein function. While global and European variants contributed near 45% of the detected BRCA1/2 variation, the significant fraction of new variants (25/96, 26%) suggests the presence of a South American genetic component.This study, the first conducted in Argentinean patients, highlights a significant impact of novel BRCA1/2 mutations and genetic variants, which may be regarded as putatively South American, and confirms the important role of founder BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in Argentinean Ashkenazi Jews.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2193-1801-1-20) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The etiology of breast cancer in Africa is scarcely investigated. Breast cancer was responsible for 456/2,233 cancer patients (20.4%) ascertained between 1999 and 2004 at Gezira University, Central Sudan. Male breast cancer accounted for 16/456 patients (3.5%), 275/440 female patients (62.5%) were premenopausal and 150/440 cases (34%) occurred in women with > or =5 childbirths. We characterized for germline BRCA1/2 mutations a one-year series of patients (34 females, 1 male) selected by diagnosis within age 40 years or male gender. Overall 33/35 patients were found to carry 60 BRCA1/2 variants, of which 17 (28%) were novel, 22 (37%) reported in populations from various geographic areas and 21 (35%) reported worldwide. Detected variants included 5 truncating mutations, one of which (in BRCA2) was in the male patient. The 55 non-truncating variants included 3 unclassified variants predicted to affect protein product and not co-occurring with a truncating mutation in the same gene. Patients were from different tribes but AMOVA showed that most BRCA1/2 variation was within individuals (86.41%) and patients clustered independently of tribe in a phylogenetic tree. Cluster analysis based on age at cancer diagnosis and reproductive variables split female patients in two clusters that, by factor analysis, were explained by low versus high scores of the total period occupied by pregnancies and lactation. The cluster with low scores comprised all 4 patients with truncating mutations and 3 of the 4 carriers of unclassified variants predicted to affect protein product. Our findings suggest that in Central Sudan BRCA1/2 represent an important etiological factor of breast cancer in males and young women less exposed to pregnancy and lactation. Factors other than BRCA1/2 may contribute to breast cancer in young highly multiparous women who breast-fed for prolonged periods.