Gene expression profiling of calcifications in breast cancer

Abstract

We investigated the gene expression profiles of calcifications in breast cancer. Gene expression analysis of surgical specimen was performed using Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Gene 2.0 ST arrays in 168 breast cancer patients. The mammographic calcifications were reviewed by three radiologists and classified into three groups according to malignancy probability: breast cancers without suspicious calcifications; breast cancers with low-to-intermediate suspicious calcifications; and breast cancers with highly suspicious calcifications. To identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between these three groups, a one-way analysis of variance was performed with post hoc comparisons with Tukey’s honest significant difference test. To explore the biological significance of DEGs, we used DAVID for gene ontology analysis and BioLattice for clustering analysis. A total of 2551 genes showed differential expression among the three groups. ERBB2 genes are up-regulated in breast cancers with highly suspicious calcifications (fold change 2.474, p < 0.001). Gene ontology analysis revealed that the immune, defense and inflammatory responses were decreased in breast cancers with highly suspicious calcifications compared to breast cancers without suspicious calcifications (p from 10−23 to 10−8). The clustering analysis also demonstrated that the immune system is associated with mammographic calcifications (p < 0.001). Our study showed calcifications in breast cancers are associated with high levels of mRNA expression of ERBB2 and decreased immune system activity.

Deposition of calcium in an in vitro model of human breast tumour calcification reveals functional role for ALP activity, altered expression of osteogenic genes and dysregulation of the TRPM7 ion channel

“…The SKBR3 cell line represents the first identified HER2+ mineralising cell line, an important finding in light of the significant association between HER2 expression and the presence of microcalcifications 15,51 . Interestingly, we did not see positive results in HER2 overexpressing sub-clone of the luminal MCF7 cell line (Fig.…”

Immunotherapy: A Challenge of Breast Cancer Treatment

“…In the particular case of HER2-positive breast tumors, gene profiling studies have shown that highly suspicious calcifications are associated with decreased immune system activity and ERBB2 overexpression [66]. For this reason, breast calcifications would be useful not only in the radiological assessment of breast lesions [67], but also in the management of breast cancer patient candidates for immunotherapy.…”

8.1: Invited Paper: Advanced Process and Structure for High Performance Oxide Thin‐Film Transistors

“…4(b), (c), (d) and Table I Recently, as a classical approach, the crystallization of metal oxide channel layer at a low temperature was developed using a catalytic capping layer such as tantalum (Ta) or titanium (Ti). [12,13] Figure 5 shows the cross-sectional TEM images of the IGZO layer with Ta catalytic layer at different thermal annealing temperatures. The crystallization effect was not seen in the sample at the low temperature of 200 C (Fig.…”