Tracking the epidemiological trends of female breast cancer in Saudi Arabia since 1990 and forecasting future statistics using global burden of disease data, time-series analysis.

BACKGROUND: Female breast cancer stands as the prime type of cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), with a high incidence and mortality rates. This study assessed the burden of female breast cancer in KSA by analyzing and forecasting its incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). METHODS: We retrieved data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) about female breast cancer from 1990 to 2021. Time-series analysis used the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to forecast female breast cancer statistics from 2022 to 2026. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2021, KSA reported 77,513 cases of female breast cancer. The age groups with the highest number of cases are 45-49 years, followed by 40-44 years, 50-54 years, and 35-39 years. The analysis also showed fewer cases in the younger age groups, with the lowest number in the less than 20-year-old age group. From 1990 to 2021, KSA reported 19,440 deaths due to breast cancer, increasing from 201 cases in 1990 to 1,190 cases in 2021. The age-standardized incidence rate/100,000 of breast cancer increased from 15.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 11.2-21.0) in 1990 to 46.0 (95%CI 34.5-61.5) in 2021. The forecasted incidence rate of female breast cancer will be 46.5 (95%CI 45.8-46.5) in 2022 and 49.6 (95%CI 46.8-52.3) in 2026. The age-standardized death rate per 100,000 Saudi women with breast cancer increased from 6.73 (95%CI 6.73-9.03) in 1990 to 9.77 (95%CI 7.63-13.00) in 2021. The forecasted female breast cancer death rate will slightly decrease to 9.67 (95%CI 9.49-9.84) in 2022 and to 9.26 (95%CI 8.37-10.15) in 2026. DALYs increased from 229.2 (95%CI 165.7-313.6) in 1990 to 346.1 (95%CI 253.9-467.2) in 2021. The forecasted DALYs of female breast cancer will slightly decrease to 343.3 (95%CI 337.2-349.5) in 2022 reaching 332.1 (95%CI 301.2-363.1) in 2026. CONCLUSIONS: Female breast cancer is still a significant public health burden that challenges the health system in KSA, current policies and interventions should be fashioned to alleviate the disease morbidity and mortality and mitigate its future burden.

Global Lipidome Profiling Revealed Multifaceted Role of Lipid Species in Hepatitis C Virus Replication, Assembly, and Host Antiviral Response.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major human pathogen that requires a better understanding of its interaction with host cells. There is a close association of HCV life cycle with host lipid metabolism. Lipid droplets (LDs) have been found to be crucial organelles that support HCV replication and virion assembly. In addition to their role in replication, LDs also have protein-mediated antiviral properties that are activated during HCV infection. Studies have shown that HCV replicates well in cholesterol and sphingolipid-rich membranes, but the ways in which HCV alters host cell lipid dynamics are not yet known. In this study, we performed a kinetic study to check the enrichment of LDs at different time points of HCV infection. Based on the LD enrichment results, we selected early and later time points of HCV infection for global lipidomic study. Early infection represents the window period for HCV sensing and host immune response while later infection represents the establishment of viral RNA replication, virion assembly, and egress. We identified the dynamic profile of lipid species at early and later time points of HCV infection by global lipidomic study using mass spectrometry. At early HCV infection, phosphatidylinositol phospholipids (PIPs), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), triacyl glycerols (TAG), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and trihexosylceramides (Hex3Cer) were observed to be enriched. Similarly, free fatty acids (FFA), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines (NAPE), and tri acylglycerols were enriched at later time points of HCV infection. Lipids enriched at early time of infection may have role in HCV sensing, viral attachment, and immune response as LPA and PIPs are important for immune response and viral attachment, respectively. Moreover, lipid species observed at later infection may contribute to HCV replication and virion assembly as PE, FFA, and triacylglycerols are known for the similar function. In conclusion, we identified lipid species that exhibited dynamic profile across early and later time points of HCV infection compared to mock cells, which could be therapeutically relevant in the design of more specific and effective anti-viral therapies.