High levels of activated Stat3 are often found in human breast cancers and can correlate with poor patient outcome. We employed an activated ErbB2 mouse model of breast cancer to investigate the in vivo role of Stat3 in mammary tumor progression and found that Stat3 does not alter mammary tumor initiation but dramatically affects metastatic progression. Four-fold fewer animals exhibited lung metastases in the absence of Stat3 and a 12-fold reduction in the number of lung lesions was observed in animals bearing Stat3-null tumors when compared with the wild-type cohort. The decreased malignancy in Stat3-deficient tumors is attributed to a reduction in both angiogenic and inflammatory responses associated with a Stat3-dependent transcriptional cascade involving CCAAT/enhancer binding protein D. [Cancer Res 2009;69(17):6823-30]

Breast carcinoma (BC) has been extensively profiled by high-throughput technologies for over a decade, and broadly speaking, these studies can be grouped into those that seek to identify patient subtypes (studies of heterogeneity) or those that seek to identify gene signatures with prognostic or predictive capacity. The sheer number of reported signatures has led to speculation that everything is prognostic in BC. Here, we show that this ubiquity is an apparition caused by a poor understanding of the interrelatedness between subtype and the molecular determinants of prognosis. Our approach constructively shows how to avoid confounding due to a patient's subtype, clinicopathological profile, or treatment profile. The approach identifies patients who are predicted to have good outcome at time of diagnosis by all available clinical and molecular markers but who experience a distant metastasis within 5 years. These inherently difficult patients (~7% of BC) are prioritized for investigations of intratumoral heterogeneity.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of the thesis research in the industrial engineering related master's programmes in Chalmers University of Technology for benchmarking implementation in Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch (IAU-STB), taking into consideration the different conditions of two universities and respective countries of Sweden and Iran. Design/methodology/approach -In this research, case study strategy was employed. In total, 17 thesis reports from 2003 to 2006 and other related published/web-based documents were studied to explore the theses' execution procedure, research method and report organization. To gain primary data, some interviews were carried out. Qualitative research method, along with descriptive statistical method was used to illustrate structural points. Findings -The results of the study help to develop group work in thesis execution, to identify the role of qualitative strategy in industrial engineering research, and to adopt a flexible approach in organization of thesis report provided that some mandatory regulations are followed. In addition, it helps to build research-oriented inter disciplinary departments vs traditional education-oriented departments on the basis of the requirements of ongoing socio-economic processes in national economy.Research limitations/implications -The acquired knowledge has been partly adapted and adopted by departments of industrial engineering in IAU-STB. The main implication is the need to explore how the entire industrial engineering departments (IEDs) in Iranian universities can efficiently and effectively adapt and adopt such knowledge for thesis research. Practical implications -This work provides effective assistance for IEDs in Iranian universities embarking on their benchmarking journey on thesis research. Originality/value -This study represents a knowledge gap and offers practical help to IEDs in Iranian universities to leverage the skills and expertise of their faculty members together with the talents of their students and consequently to maintain and enhance their thesis research capability.

Supplementary Figure 3 from Identification of a Stat3-Dependent Transcription Regulatory Network Involved in Metastatic Progression