A new clinical cut-off of cytokeratin 19 mRNA copy number in sentinel lymph node better identifies patients eligible for axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer.

AIMS: Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA copy number predicts the probability of tumour load in axillary lymph nodes (ALN) and can help in decision-making regarding the axillary dissection. The purpose of this study was to define a new cut-off of CK19 mRNA copy number using the one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay on metastatic sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in order to identify cases at risk of having one or more positive ALN. METHODS: 1296 SLN from 1080 patients were analysed with the OSNA assay. 194 patients with positive SLN underwent ALN dissection and the mean value of CK19 copy number (320 000) of their SLN was set as initial cut-off. Receiver operative characteristics curve identify a best cut-off of 7700 (sensitivity 78%, specificity 57%). A comparison between our and the traditional cut-off (5000) was performed. RESULTS: The cut-off of 7700 successfully identifies patients with positive ALN (p=0.001, false- negative cases: 17%). In the range between 5000 and 7700, one patient with positive ALN would not undergo axillary dissection, whereas eight patients with negative ALN would be correctly identified. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the level of CK19 mRNA copy number could be the only parameter to consider in the intraoperative management of the axilla.

Increased susceptibility to colitis-associated cancer of mice lacking TIR8, an inhibitory member of the interleukin-1 receptor family.

TIR8 (also known as SIGIRR) is a member of the interleukin-1/Toll-like receptor family with inhibitory activity on inflammatory reactions and high expression in intestinal mucosa. Here, we report that Tir8-deficient mice exhibited a dramatic intestinal inflammation in response to dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) administration in terms of weight loss, intestinal bleeding, and mortality and showed increased susceptibility to carcinogenesis in response to azoxymethane and DSS. Increased susceptibility to colitis-associated cancer was associated to increased permeability and local production of prostaglandin E(2), proinflammatory cytokines, and chemokines. Thus, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that TIR8, by negatively regulating intestinal inflammation, plays a nonredundant role in the control of the protumor activity of chronic inflammation in the gut.