These results suggest that some clinical characteristics of breast cancers are determined by loss of tumor suppressor genes present at specific chromosome regions. Especially, LOH at 11q23-24, 13q12, 17p13.3, and 22q13 is a significant predictor of lymph-node metastasis for patients who have undergone surgery for breast cancer, and may serve as a negative prognostic indicator.

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. One of nine Caucasian women and one of 40 Japanese women will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes, and the incidence has been increasing worldwide. Solid tumors in humans are now believed to develop through a multi-step process involving activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumor suppressor genes.

We report a case of diabetic mastopathy with multiple unilateral lesions in an insulin dependent patient. The patient was a 62-year-old woman with two hard tumors in the right breast, who had been treated with insulin for diabetes mellitus. Mammography revealed a highly dense tumor in the right breast, while ultrasonography showed two irregular hypoechoic lesions with marked posterior acoustical shadowing, suggesting scirrhous carcinoma. On magnetic resonance imaging the two lesions had slightly heterogeneous enhancement. Aspiration breast cytology showed insufficient cellular material for evaluation. Excisional biopsy was performed because the patient wanted confirmation and treatment. Fibrosis with dense lymphocytic infiltration around the lobules and ducts was diagnosed histopathologically. These findings were compatible with diabetic fibrous mastopathy. Although this disease is thought to be a diabetes-induced reaction of autoimmune origin, multiple lesions are rare. This is the first case of unilateral multiple lesions of diabetic mastopathy.

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