Roles of microRNAs in metabolic reprogramming of breast cancer.

Breast cancer cells exhibit deregulated metabolism. They require increased glucose uptake and glycolysis-associated enzymes to produce adenosine triphosphate by aerobic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation. Glutamine metabolism and fatty acid synthesis are also enhanced to meet the rapid and sustained cell growth. Triple-negative breast cancer and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-positive breast cancers demonstrate significant metabolic reprogramming with increased levels of glucose and glutamine metabolism. Increasing evidences also suggest that micro-ribonucleic acids play important roles in the regulation of metabolic enzymes of breast cancer cells in post-transcriptional manner. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 and oestrogen receptor signalling pathways could have crosstalk with micro-ribonucleic acids in metabolic regulation network. The current narrative review was planned to go through recent advances on the role of micro-ribonucleic acids on metabolic reprogramming in breast cancer cells.

Survival impact of primary site surgery on metastatic breast cancer patients at diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Stage IV breast cancer was considered to be an incurable disease. Primary site surgery used to be reserved to control local complications. In the present study, we compared the survival of women who received therapeutic breast surgery for stage IV breast cancer at initial diagnosis to the survival of those who did not. METHODS: Two French hospitals databases were retrospectively screened from 2005 to 2012. We identified all women with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis. Patients' data were obtained by a review of their medical history. Data were analyzed according the four breast cancer subtypes (luminal A, luminal B, her 2 and triple negative). RESULTS: One hundred thirty nine women were included, of whom 69 had primary site surgery. TNM stage and phenotypes of breast cancer were comparable in the two groups but operated women were younger than women who did not (p<0.0001). Average follow-up was 31±23.3 months [1-97]. Through logistic regression, we observed that tumor resection decreased death hazard ratio vs no surgery: HR 0.33, 95% CI [0.16-0.66] p=0.001. In the surgery group, there was no survival difference if women received chemotherapy (p=0.23). There were more patients with only one metastatic site in the surgery group (p=0.002) and they had been more treated with systemic therapy. When we compared tumor phenotypes individually, surgery increased survival on luminal A breast cancer patients (p<.0001). CONCLUSION: Women with luminal A breast cancer and synchronous metastasis seemed to benefit from surgery. The development of a national reporting system or registers for outcomes would facilitate the investigation of the disease across a multitude of aspects of stage IV breast cancer.

Clinical and pathologic characteristics of breast cancer patients carrying the c.3481_3491del11 mutation.

Tumor characteristics are used today to evaluate the possibility of mutation and to target mutation screening in families with high risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer. We studied the breast tumor profile associated to the c.3481_3491del11 French founder effect mutation on the BRCA1 gene to an attempt to identify any particularity or difference when comparing it to that related to other BRCA1 mutations. Within the population who were referred to our oncogenetic clinic at the Lorraine Oncology Institute in France and who underwent genetic testing between 1994 and 2012, we identified 404 women carrying a BRCA1 mutation. Interestingly, 45% (180/404) women had the germline c.3481_3491del11 mutation. These included 91 patients affected by first breast cancer. Clinical and pathologic data were retrieved from medical files. Descriptive statistics were conducted using the SPSS software (version 20.0). For the entire cohort of 91 women, the mean age was 43.64 years (SD 10.04). Tumors were identified in 37.4% of cases aged < 40 years. Estrogen receptor status and progesterone receptor status were reported to 67 patients. Seventy-four percent were ER negative. Hormonal receptors status was negative in 68.6% of tumors. HER2 status was available for 32 tumors. The triple-negative subtype was found in 21 cases, which accounts for 65.6% of the patients. High tumor grade was found in 81% of triple negative breast cancer patients. Based on our results compared to those of previous international studies, we concluded that the breast cancer associated to the c.3481_3491del11 is not different from that associated to other BRCA1 mutations. A larger cohort with complete information on the breast cancer pathologic characteristics and including other BRCA1 mutations would allow us to statistically compare the breast tumor profile associated to the c.3481_3491del11 to that related to other BRCA1 mutations.