No abstract

Screening mammography has greatly increased the number of non-palpable breast carcinomas diagnosed in asymptomatic women. Malignant-appearing microcalcifications represent one of the earliest mammographic findings of nonpalpable breast carcinomas. Many studies have attempted to correlate radiological and histological features of malignantappearing microcalcifications. In the present study, we evaluated the association between mammographically detected malignant-appearing microcalcifications and the expression profile of selected biological markers in non-palpable breast carcinomas. Two hundred and eighty patients with non-palpable suspicious breast lesions that were detected during screening mammography were studied. All patients underwent mammographically-guided needle localization-excision breast biopsy. Key words: non-palpable breast carcinoma; microcalcification; estrogen receptor; progesterone receptor; c-erbB-2; cell proliferation; apoptosisBreast carcinoma represents a common disease among Greek women and is considered to be one of the main causes of cancer mortality. In the last decade screening programs have been intensified in Greece, based on 8 randomized breast screening trials that have suggested a contribution of mammographic screening to breast cancer mortality, 1 although debate continues on this issue. 2 The main goal of these programs is the detection of breast carcinomas in an earlier and more curable stage of evolution. 3 Noteworthy is the fact that with the introduction of mammographic screening, the incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in asymptomatic women has increased to 20 -25% of all screeningdetected breast cancers. 4 It has been estimated that mammographic detection of non-palpable breast carcinomas reflects only 20% of the "total lifetime" of breast cancer. 5 Mammographically-diagnosed non-palpable breast carcinomas are increasingly encountered and constitute a major clinical entity.Non-palpable breast carcinomas form a heterogeneous group of lesions with variable findings and different prognosis. Most are small in size and have infrequent nodal and distant metastases. It is well documented that microcalcifications represent one of the earliest mammographically detectable changes associated with in situ and invasive breast carcinomas in asymptomatic women. Microcalcifications are the primary indication for approximately 50% of the breast biopsies carried out for non-palpable mammographic abnormalities, although they do not always represent malignancy. Various investigators have attempted to distinguish mammographically benign vs. malignant microcalcifications. 6 Histologic examination of the areas of microcalcifications is not always adequate in terms of clinical decision making. 7 New parameters for mammographically detected microcalcifications associated with non-palpable breast carcinomas are desirable.A wide range of prognostic markers have been proposed for non-palpable breast carcinomas. The clinically available markers such as histological type, size, auxiliary node ...

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is a family of proteins structurally similar to ubiquitin that have been found to be covalently attached to certain lysine residues of specific target proteins. By contrast to ubiquitination, however, SUMO proteins do not promote protein degradation but, instead, modulate important functional properties, depending on the protein substrate. These properties include--albeit not limited to--subcellular localization, protein dimerization, DNA binding and/or transactivation of transcription factors, among them estrogen receptors. Moreover, it has been suggested that SUMO proteins might affect transcriptional co-factor complexes of the estrogen receptor signalling cascade. Tissue and/or state specificity seems to be one of their intriguing features. In this regard, elucidation of their contribution to estrogen receptor-mediated transcriptional activity during breast carcinogenesis will offer new insights into the molecular mechanisms governing sensitivity/resistance in currently applied endocrine treatment and/or chemoprevention, and provide novel routes to breast carcinoma therapeutics.

No abstract

In this article, we describe a case of colonic ischemia masquerading as colonic carcinoma in a 75-yr-old female. Although this clinical diagnostic problem has been described before, it is rather unusual that the clinical, roentgenographical, endoscopic, and even histopathologic evaluation could not exclude carcinoma with certainty.