In their previous report on the 1978 survey of breast cancer by the American College of Surgeons, the authors observed that the five-year cure rate was lower, but only marginally, in patients having tumors located in the medial half of the breast than those in the lateral half. In order to identify factors which might explain this difference, as well as to evaluate the contribution of additional irradiation towards improving the cure rates, further analysis was made of the group of 9401 women in the long-term survey, with particular attention to the size of the tumor, the age of the patient, and the extent of the nodal metastasis. This analysis demonstrates that the prognosis is quite similar between groups of patients with tumors in medial or lateral half of the breast. Irradiation given in addition to mastectomy did not appear to improve the prognosis of the patients as compared to that of those treated by mastectomy alone.

Breast Neoplasms↗

PubMed1983

Is medullary carcinoma of the breast hormone dependent?

From 1951 to 1981, 22 patients with metastatic medullary carcinoma of the breast were treated with hormonal therapies at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. Bilateral oophorectomy was performed in 6 premenopausal patients, and none had objective response, although one patient did have stable disease for 7 months. Three of these patients subsequently underwent bilateral adrenalectomy and none responded. Thirteen of 16 postmenopausal patients underwent bilateral adrenalectomy and only one had an objective response of 4 months. Eight of 22 patients received additive hormones, and one patient was treated with Tamoxifen. There was no objective response to these therapies. From this study, it appears that medullary carcinoma of the breast is less often responsive to endocrine therapy, and this finding correlates well with the recent data showing lower frequency of estrogen receptor-positive tumors in these patients.

Adrenalectomy↗

PubMed1983

Management of brain metastases from breast cancer by combination chemotherapy.

Since most patients with brain metastases from breast cancer have disseminated disease elsewhere and a dismal prognosis when treated by whole brain irradiation alone, we investigated the use of systemic chemotherapy in 66 such patients. Fifty-two percent (34 of 66 patients) demonstrated an objective response to this therapy which was similar to the results obtained in patients treated for extracranial metastases. Eighteen patients who subsequently had recurrence of brain metastases were successfully retreated with secondary chemotherapy. The median duration of remission in 34 responders was ten months. The median survival, from the time of chemotherapy for brain metastases, was 13.1 months in 34 responders (range 5-74+) vs. 3.0 months in 32 non-responders (P less than 0.001). These findings suggest that systemic chemotherapy is effective in the treatment of patients with brain metastases from breast cancer by inducing remission and prolonging survival.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Enhancement of T lymphocyte proliferative response to mitogens by indomethacin in breast and colorectal cancer patients.

The present study confirms previous observations that in vitro T lymphocyte proliferative response to mitogens is depressed in only some untreated patients with advanced or metastatic breast and colorectal cancer. Indomethacin, a prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor, at 1.0 microgram or 0.1 microgram/ml concentration significantly enhances the PHA, Con A or PWM response in these patients with breast and colorectal cancer (P less than 0.05 - P less than 0.01). Indomethacin has no mitogenic activity. Ethyl alcohol (0.01%), in which indomethacin is dissolved, also has no mitogenic or cytotoxic activity. Although the in vitro effect of indomethacin has been well-demonstrated, the in vivo effect of this agent on cell-mediated immunity in man has not yet been thoroughly investigated and thus, further studies of the effect of indomethacin administration on in vivo and in vitro cellular immunity seem warranted.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Monoclonal antibodies (F36/22 and M7/105) to human breast carcinoma.

Cloned hybridoma cell lines were obtained from fusions of murine myeloma cells with lymphocytes of mice immunized against human breast cancer cells. Hybridomas F36/22 and M7/105 produced antibodies whose binding to breast cancer cells could not be inhibited by prior absorptions with fibroblasts, lymphoblastoid cells, or erythrocytes. Results from cell surface binding assays using a panel of tumor cell lines indicated that antibodies F36/22 and M7/105 recognized determinants expressed maximally on breast cancer cells. Antibody F36/22 reacted with normal mammary epithelial membranes and milk fat globule membranes, whereas antibody M7/105 produced no detectable binding to these specimens. Antigens carrying these epitopes each showed reactivity with concanavalin A lectin. The determinant corresponding to antibody F36/22 was detectable in histological sections of a subset of breast tumors obtained at surgery.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1983

Tissue distribution of an epithelial and tumor-associated antigen recognized by monoclonal antibody F36/22.

Murine monoclonal antibody F36/22 was derived by immunizing BALB/c mice with human breast cancer cells. This antibody reacts with an antigen located both on differentiated mammary ductal epithelia and on breast carcinomas, as examined by indirect immunoperoxidase techniques. Although the expression of this antigen correlated with estrogen receptor levels of breast tumors, antibody F36/22 did not directly react with estrophilin. In contrast to the expression of classical differentiation antigens, this antigen was found in a high percentage of poorly differentiated carcinomas of the breast. Staining intensities were similar for well- and poorly differentiated tumors; thus, antigen expression was not related to tumor grade. Intratumoral heterogeneity of antigen expression was observed in the majority of tumors. Since a subset (64 of 80) of the breast carcinomas examined have expressed the antigen, McAb 36/22 was of use for the immunological subclassification of tumors which were indistinguishable by conventional histopathological staining techniques. The antigen was also present on other adenocarcinomas (ovary, colon, stomach, pancreas, and prostate); however, these tumors usually exhibited reduced staining intensity compared with that observed in breast cancer. The normal counterpart tissues at these histotypes contained no detectable levels of the antigen, and increased expression of the antigen was associated with tumorigenesis at these sites. Tumors of mesenchymal origin and carcinomas other than adenocarcinomas exhibited undetectable levels of the antigen. Therefore, depending on the organ site, McAb F36/22 recognizes an epithelial and/or tumor-associated antigen.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Comparison of four-combination chemotherapy programs in metastatic breast cancer: comparison of multiple drug therapy with cytoxan, 5-FU and prednisone versus cytoxan and adriamycin, versus cytoxan, 5-FU and adriamycin, versus cytoxan, 5-FU and prednisone alternating with cytoxan and adriamycin.

In 126 postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer, four chemotherapeutic combination programs were tested. Patients were stratified and randomized to one of the four programs: (1) fluorouracil, cytoxan and prednisone (CFP): (2) fluorouracil, cytoxan and Adriamycin (CAF); (3) cytoxan and Adriamycin (CA); or (4) alternating combinations of CFP-CA. Objective response rates were 17% for 18 patients on CFP, 25% for 40 patients on CAF, 42% for 41 patients on CA and 63% for 19 patients on CFP-CA. CFP-CA provided a significantly higher response rate than either CFP or CAF. The response rate of CA was intermediate. The duration of remission and survival were similar for all four groups. When progression or relapse following remission was demonstrated, patients were rerandomized to either adrenalectomy or tamoxifen. There were no responders either in the 15 patients undergoing adrenalectomy or the 11 patients receiving tamoxifen. In a crossover study, nine adrenalectomized patients received tamoxifen and four tamoxifen-treated patients underwent adrenalectomy. None responded. It appears that response rates to hormonal modalities are reduced in patients previously treated by combination chemotherapy.

Adrenalectomy↗

PubMed1982

Patterns of breast cancer detection in the United States.

The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Short-term Survey of Breast Cancer in 12,315 patients showed that 73% of malignant tumors are found by patients, 23% by physicians, and 4% by mammography. It also indicated that younger women are more likely to discover tumors than older women, and that mammography is more likely to detect small tumors with negative axillary nodes. The effectiveness of mammography is most evident in women 50 to 74 years of age, although in women 45 to 49 years, the frequency of tumors detected by mammography nearly equals that for other groups. In black women, mammography may not be currently fully utilized. Analysis of the survey data would indicate that patients appear to demonstrate adequate skill in detecting tumors, as compared to physicians. A delay in diagnosis of longer than 3 months is associated with larger tumors and increased likelihood of axillary metastasis.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1982

Hybridoma antibody to breast cancer immune complexes.

Hybridoma clones were established by fusing spleen cells from mice immunized with purified breast cancer-related immune complexes to drug-resistant nonproducing myelomas. Hybridoma cultures were evaluated for antibody production using immunofluorescence, radioimmunoassay and immunoperoxidase techniques. One antibody demonstrated strong reactivity against breast tumor cells (BT-20) in culture and also was found to bind ductal epithelial cells within sections of human mammary tissue. Antigen was detected within the soluble fraction of breast tumors with molecular weight greater than 500 K. The possible relationship between antigen detected in breast tumor cells and in immune-complexed form is discussed.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

PubMed1982

Diet in the epidemiology of breast cancer.

A variety of studies have shown that diets high in fat, particularly polyunsaturated, have enhanced the production of tumors in animals challenged with chemical carcinogens. Other studies have found an apparent contradiction of no difference in the incidence of breast cancer among women with varying levels of serum cholesterol as measured decades earlier. The present study concerns 2024 breast cancer cases and 1463 control patients without neoplasms or pathology of the reproductive and digestive organs, seen at Roswell Park Memorial Institute from 1958 to 1965. Based upon the assessments of their varying ingestion of fats from their own reports of diets, no difference in risk was found. Similarly, there was no difference in risk of breast cancer associated with ingesting diets containing various levels of either vitamin C or the cruciferous vegetables. Risk for breast cancer in women 55 years of age and older increased somewhat with decreases in ingestion of foods containing vitamin A.

Aging↗

PubMed1982

Ultrastructural changes in the endothelial surface of the canine carotid artery induced by wall shear stress load.

To study the morphological changes in the endothelial surface of the artery induced by wall shear stress load, an arterio-venous shunt was constructed between the common carotid artery and the external jugular vein in 21 dogs. The ultrastructural changes in the endothelial surface were observed by scanning electron microscopy after the measurement of the hemodynamic parameters. In acute experiments (3 days or 1 week postoperative), the clear ultrastructural changes, such as the disturbance of the smooth folds, the find transverse wrinkles, the small spindle swellings, the splitting of the intercellular junction of the endothelial cells and occasionally the desquamation of the endothelial cells, were significantly observed as proportional to the elevated flow rate ratio (fs/fc, fs: flow rate of the shunted artery, fc: flow rate of the control artery). In subacute experiments (2 or 4 weeks postoperative), the small spindle swellings were observed in the shunted artery with high flow rate ratio. In chronic experiments (5 or 6 months postoperative), these changes were less proportional to the flow rate ratio. These morphological changes were significant in the disturbance of the endothelial barrier in acute experiments and they were significant in adaptive regulatory change in the chronic experiments. These support our previous observation (Am. J. Physiol. 239, H14-21, 1980). The possibility of the wall shear stress for atherogenesis was discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

[Pre- and post-operative nursing of patients with prostatic diseases].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗

PubMed1982

[Velocity to pressure ratio (U2/AP) as an index for left ventricular performance].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗