Mammary Cell News Volume 2.07 | Feb 25 2010

Bitter Melon Extract Decreased Breast Cancer Cell Growth
Bitter melon extract, a common dietary supplement, exerts a significant effect against breast cancer cell growth and may eventually become a chemopreventive agent against this form of cancer. [Press release from ScienceDaily discussing online prepublication in Cancer Research]

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Aspirin Could Lower Chance of Breast Cancer Recurrence, Death, Study Finds
A provocative new study suggests that aspirin reduces the odds of death in breast cancer survivors, although doctors caution it is too soon to know if women should start taking the drug as soon as they are diagnosed. [ABC News Press Release]

George Mason University Researchers Hope to Customize Breast Cancer Treatment
Researchers launched a clinical trial to study whether medical professionals can customize treatment for patients with metastatic breast cancer by looking at the protein pathways that vary inside each tumor. [Washington Post Press Release]

Researchers Discover Second Protective Role for Tumor-Suppressor
ATM, a protein that reacts to DNA damage by ordering repairs or the suicide of the defective cell, plays a similar, previously unknown role in response to oxidative damage outside of the nucleus. [Press release from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center discussing online prepublication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

Small Liquid Sensor May Detect Cancer Instantly, Could Lead to Home Detection Kit
A researcher is developing a tiny sensor, known as an acoustic resonant sensor, that is smaller than a human hair and could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. [EurekAlert! Press Release]

LABORATORY RESEARCH

miR-9, a MYC/MYCN-Activated MicroRNA, Regulates E-Cadherin and Cancer Metastasis
MicroRNA-9, which is upregulated in breast cancer cells, directly targets CDH1, the E-cadherin-encoding messenger RNA, leading to increased cell motility and invasiveness. [Nat Cell Biol]

Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia ) Extract Inhibits Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation by Modulating Cell Cycle Regulatory Genes and Promotes Apoptosis
Researchers used human breast cancer cells, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, and primary human mammary epithelial cells as an in vitro model to assess the efficacy of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) extract as an anticancer agent. [Cancer Res]

Negative Feedback Control of HIF-1 Through REDD1-Regulated ROS Suppresses Tumorigenesis
Resarchers demonstrate a negative feedback loop for regulation of HIF-1 by REDD1, which plays a key role in tumor suppression. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA]

Complex Display of Putative Tumor Stem Cell Markers in the NCI60 Tumor Cell Line Panel
Researchers investigated expression of putative cancer initiating cells surface markers and the activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase in the NCI60 panel singly and in combination by six-color FACS analysis. [Stem Cells]

Antineoplastic Effects of an Aurora B Kinase Inhibitor in Breast Cancer
Results define a novel mechanism for posttranscriptional regulation of Aurora B after AZD1152 treatment and provide insight into dosing regimen design for this kinase inhibitor in metastatic breast cancer treatment. [Mol Cancer]

Potentiation of TNF-(Alpha)-Induced Tumor Cell Apoptosis by a Small-Molecule Inhibitor for Anti-Apoptotic Protein hPEBP4
Data suggest that IOI-42, as the first chemical inhibitor of anti-apoptotic protein hPEBP4, may serve as a potential antitumor drug by sensitizing tumor cells to apoptotic inducers. [J Biol Chem]

Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) Inhibition Transforms Human Mammary Gland Epithelial Cells
In MCF-10A and MCF-12A cells, partial or almost complete stable ataxia telangiectasia mutated silencing or pharmacological inhibition resulted in cellular transformation, genomic instability and formation of dysplastic lesions in NOD/SCID mice. [J Biol Chem]

Exploring the Gain of Function Contribution of AKT to Mammary Tumorigenesis in Mouse Models
To investigate the mechanistic basis of the AKT gain of function-dependent mechanisms of breast tumorigenesis, researchers explored the phenotype induced by activated AKT transgenes in a quantitative manner. [PLoS ONE]

Nuclear Entry of Activated MAPK Is Restricted in Primary Ovarian and Mammary Epithelial Cells
In primary cultures of breast and ovarian epithelial cells, phosphorylation and activation of ERK1/2 are disassociated from nuclear translocalization and transcription of downstream targets, such as c-Fos, suggesting that nuclear translocation is limited in primary cells. [PLoS ONE]

CLINICAL RESEARCH

HER2, TOP2A, and TIMP-1 and Responsiveness to Adjuvant Anthracycline-Containing Chemotherapy in High-Risk Breast Cancer Patients
To evaluate whether the combination of HER2 with TIMP-1 or TOP2A with TIMP-1 more accurately identifies patients who benefit from cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, and fluorouracil compared with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil than these markers do when analyzed individually. [ J Clin Oncol]

First-Line Trastuzumab Plus Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide Therapy in Patients with Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: Cardiac Safety and Efficacy Data From the Herceptin, Cyclophosphamide, and Epirubicin (HERCULES) Trial
A high incidence of congestive heart failure has been observed in patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving doxorubicin-based chemotherapy and trastuzumab. The trial evaluated trastuzumab plus cyclophosphamide and the less cardiotoxic anthracycline epirubicin. [J Clin Oncol]

Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study to Refine Management Recommendations for Women at Elevated Familial Risk of Breast Cancer: The EVA Trial
Researchers investigated the respective contribution (in terms of cancer yield and stage at diagnosis) of clinical breast examination, mammography, ultrasound, and quality-assured breast magnetic resonance imaging, used alone or in different combination, for screening women at elevated risk for breast cancer. [J Clin Oncol]

Cyclophosphamide, Methotrexate, and Fluorouracil; Oral Cyclophosphamide; Levamisole; or No Adjuvant Therapy for Patients with High-Risk, Premenopausal Breast Cancer
The Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group 77B trial examined the relative efficacy of levamisole, single-agent oral cyclophosphamide, and the classic combination of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil against no adjuvant systemic therapy in high-risk breast cancer patients. [Cancer]

$ 11.5 Million National Institutes of Health Center Grant Funds Novel Cancer Stem Cell Research at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute was awarded an $11.5 million Center Grant by the National Institutes of Health to study the best way to attack deadly cancer stem cells to enhance treatments for breast cancer. [The Methodist Hospital Research Institute Press Release]

GlaxoSmithKline Receives Positive Opinions in Europe for Tyverb® (Lapatinib) and Votrient™ (Pazopanib)
GlaxoSmithKline announced that the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has issued two positive opinions in the European Union for two of its cancer medicines. [GlaxoSmithKline Press Release]

New Study in Clinical Cancer Research Demonstrates Potential for Cyclacel’s Seliciclib in Treating Breast Cancer Resistant to Hormone Therapy
Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that a newly published study demonstrates that the company’s seliciclib (CYC202 or R-roscovitine), an orally available inhibitor of multiple cyclin-dependent kinases, reversed resistance to the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara®) and killed hormone receptor positive breast cancer cells that had become insensitive to the effects of letrozole. [Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Press Release]

Review Considerations for Applications and Awards under the New NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research (NOT-OD-10-056) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (Parent F31) (PA-10-108) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows (Parent F32) (PA-10-110) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Senior Fellows (Parent F33) (PA-10-111) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

A Centralized Protein Sequence and Function Resource (U41) (RFA-HG-10-004) [National Human Genome Research Institute, United States]

2010 Meeting Materials, Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

EVENTS

27th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference
March 3-6, 2010
Miami, United States

7th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC)
March 24-27, 2010
Barcelona, Spain

34th Annual Symposium of the American Society of Breast Disease (ASBD)
April 16-17, 2010
New York City, United States

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 101st Annual Meeting 2010
April 17-21, 2010
Washington, DC, United States

BIT’s 3rd Annual World Cancer Congress 2010 – Breast Cancer Conference
April 25-27, 2010
Shanghai, China

IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference
May 6-8, 2010
Brussels, Belgium

Breast Cancer Research 2010 Conference
May 18, 2010
London, United Kingdom

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2010
June 4-8, 2010
Chicago, United States

Gordon Research Conference: Mammary Gland Biology
June 6-11, 2010
Lucca (Barga), Italy

12th Milan Breast Cancer Conference
June 16-18, 2010
Milan, Italy

The 21st Meeting of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
June 26-29, 2010
Oslo, Norway

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