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Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2024 | Viewed by 5521

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hidetaka Kawabata

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Guest Editor

Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo 105-8470, Japan
Interests: breast cancer; surgical oncology; diagnostic imaging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer type for women, accounting for one in eight cancer diagnoses worldwide. While the number of cases and deaths are expected to continue to rise, advances in screening, early diagnosis, and treatment are steadily improving the survival rate of breast cancer patients. Advances in diagnostic imaging, symbolized by the application of artificial intelligence, the accumulation of genetic knowledge, and advances in molecular biology and pharmacology are being applied in various forms to clinical practice, updating the standard of care and revolutionizing the future. This Special Issue aims to collect original research, meta-analyses, reviews, and letters related to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer at the molecular level.

Dr. Hidetaka Kawabata
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

breast cancer
diagnostic imaging
treatment
targeted therapy
immunotherapy

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 5739 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prognostic Value of “Basal-like” Morphology, Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Multi-MAGE-A Expression in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

by Toni Čeprnja, Snježana Tomić, Melita Perić Balja, Zlatko Marušić, Valerija Blažićević, Giulio Cesare Spagnoli, Antonio Juretić, Vesna Čapkun, Ana Tečić Vuger, Zenon Pogorelić and Ivana Mrklić

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(8), 4513; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25084513 - 20 Apr 2024

Viewed by 471

Abstract

“Basal-like” (BL) morphology and the expression of cancer testis antigens (CTA) in breast cancer still have unclear prognostic significance. The aim of our research was to explore correlations of the morphological characteristics and tumor microenvironment in triple-negative breast carcinomas (TNBCs) with multi-MAGE-A CTA expression and to determine their prognostic significance. Clinical records of breast cancer patients who underwent surgery between January 2017 and December 2018 in four major Croatian clinical centers were analyzed. A total of 97 non-metastatic TNBCs with available tissue samples and treatment information were identified. Cancer tissue sections were additionally stained with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) Ventana (SP142) and multi-MAGE-A (mAb 57B). BL morphology was detected in 47 (49%) TNBCs and was associated with a higher Ki-67 proliferation index and histologic grade. Expression of multi-MAGE-A was observed in 77 (79%) TNBCs and was significantly associated with BL morphology. Lymphocyte-predominant breast cancer (LPBC) status was detected in 11 cases (11.3%) and significantly correlated with the Ki-67 proliferation index, increased number of intratumoral lymphocytes (itTIL), and PD-L1 expression. No impact of BL morphology, multi-MAGE-A expression, histologic type, or LPBC status on disease-free survival was observed. Our data suggest that tumor morphology could help identify patients with potential benefits from CTA-targeting immunotherapy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment)

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13 pages, 3740 KiB

Open AccessArticle

PFDN4 as a Prognostic Marker Was Associated with Chemotherapy Resistance through CREBP1/AURKA Pathway in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

by Shih-Ho Wang, Cheng-Hsi Yeh, Chia-Wei Wu, Chia-Yi Hsu, Eing-Mei Tsai, Chao-Ming Hung, Yi-Wen Wang and Tsung-Hua Hsieh

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(7), 3906; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25073906 - 31 Mar 2024

Viewed by 613

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and its incidence is increasing. It is currently mainly treated by clinical chemotherapy, but chemoresistance remains poorly understood. Prefolded proteins 4 (PFDN4) are molecular chaperone complexes that bind to newly synthesized polypeptides and allow them to fold correctly to stabilize protein formation. This study aimed to investigate the role of PFDN4 in chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer. Our study found that PFDN4 was highly expressed in breast cancer compared to normal tissues and was statistically significantly associated with stage, nodal status, subclasses (luminal, HER2 positive and triple negative), triple-negative subtype and disease-specific survival by TCGA database analysis. CRISPR knockout of PFDN4 inhibited the growth of 89% of breast cancer cell lines, and the triple-negative cell line exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect than the non-triple-negative cell line. High PFDN4 expression was associated with poor overall survival in chemotherapy and resistance to doxorubicin and paclitaxel through the CREBP1/AURKA pathway in the triple-negative MDAMB231 cell line. This study provides insightful evidence for the value of PFDN4 in poor prognosis and chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment)

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19 pages, 12121 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exosomal microRNA-92b Is a Diagnostic Biomarker in Breast Cancer and Targets Survival-Related MTSS1L to Promote Tumorigenesis

by Jung-Yu Kan, Shen-Liang Shih, Sheau-Fang Yang, Pei-Yi Chu, Fang-Ming Chen, Chung-Liang Li, Yi-Chia Wu, Yao-Tsung Yeh, Ming-Feng Hou and Chih-Po Chiang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(2), 1295; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25021295 - 20 Jan 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1076

Abstract

Exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) are novel, non-invasive biomarkers for facilitating communication and diagnosing cancer. However, only a few studies have investigated their function and role in the clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. To address this gap, we established a stable cell line, MDA-MB-231-CD63-RFP, and recruited 112 female participants for serum collection. We screened 88 exosomal miRNAs identified through microarray analysis of 231-CD63 and literature screening using real-time PCR; only exosomal miR-92b-5p was significantly increased in patients with breast cancer. It had a significant correlation with stage and discriminated patients from the control with an AUC of 0.787. Exosomal miR-92b-5p impacted the migration, adhesion, and spreading ability of normal human mammary epithelial recipient cells through the downregulation of the actin dynamics regulator MTSS1L. In clinical breast cancer tissue, the expression of MTSS1L was significantly inversely correlated with tissue miR-92b-5p, and high expression of MTSS1L was associated with better 10-year overall survival rates in patients undergoing hormone therapy. In summary, our studies demonstrated that exosomal miR-92b-5p might function as a non-invasive body fluid biomarker for breast cancer detection and provide a novel therapeutic strategy in the axis of miR-92b-5p to MTSS1L for controlling metastasis and improving patient survival. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment)

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Review

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24 pages, 2909 KiB

Open AccessReview

Imaging Molecular Targets and Metabolic Pathways in Breast Cancer for Improved Clinical Management: Current Practice and Future Perspectives

by Honest Ndlovu, Ismaheel O. Lawal, Kgomotso M. G. Mokoala and Mike M. Sathekge

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(3), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25031575 - 26 Jan 2024

Viewed by 1057

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Timely decision-making that enables implementation of the most appropriate therapy or therapies is essential for achieving the best clinical outcomes in breast cancer. While clinicopathologic characteristics and immunohistochemistry have traditionally been used in decision-making, these clinical and laboratory parameters may be difficult to ascertain or be equivocal due to tumor heterogeneity. Tumor heterogeneity is described as a phenomenon characterized by spatial or temporal phenotypic variations in tumor characteristics. Spatial variations occur within tumor lesions or between lesions at a single time point while temporal variations are seen as tumor lesions evolve with time. Due to limitations associated with immunohistochemistry (which requires invasive biopsies), whole-body molecular imaging tools such as standard-of-care [¹⁸F]FDG and [¹⁸F]FES PET/CT are indispensable in addressing this conundrum. Despite their proven utility, these standard-of-care imaging methods are often unable to image a myriad of other molecular pathways associated with breast cancer. This has stimulated interest in the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals targeting other molecular pathways and processes. In this review, we discuss validated and potential roles of these standard-of-care and novel molecular approaches. These approaches’ relationships with patient clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical characteristics as well as their influence on patient management will be discussed in greater detail. This paper will also introduce and discuss the potential utility of novel PARP inhibitor-based radiopharmaceuticals as non-invasive biomarkers of PARP expression/upregulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment)

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20 pages, 876 KiB

Open AccessReview

Genetic Testing Enhances the Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer

by Tinglin Yang, Wenhui Li, Tao Huang and Jun Zhou

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(23), 16607; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242316607 - 22 Nov 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1750

Abstract

The contemporary comprehension of breast cancer has progressed to the molecular level. As a heterogeneous malignancy, conventional pathological diagnosis and histological classification could no longer meet the needs of precisely managing breast cancer. Genetic testing based on gene expression profiles and gene mutations has emerged and substantially contributed to the precise diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Multigene assays (MGAs) are explored for early-stage breast cancer patients, aiding the selection of adjuvant therapy and predicting prognosis. For metastatic breast cancer patients, testing specific genes indicates potentially effective antitumor agents. In this review, genetic testing in early-stage and metastatic breast cancer is summarized, as well as the advantages and challenges of genetic testing in breast cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research on Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment)

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