Highlights of Issue 40/16

Shedding light on signalling in breast cancer

Signalling pathways in breast cancer

Vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-8, two potent angiogenic factors,are regulated by different signalling pathways in different breast cell lines, Chelouche-Levand colleagues report in this issue. Using different inhibitors, they showed mitogen-activatedkinase inhibition reduced their expression in one cell line, whereas phosphatidylinositol-3-kinaseinhibition had the same effect on another cell line. "Recognising which signallingpathway is active may identify targets for anti-angiogenic therapy of breast cancer",they said.

Ciliary body involvement in uveal melanoma may be prognostic

Ciliary body involvement in uveal melanoma patients may identify candidates forfuture adjuvant therapy, according to Schmittel and colleagues reporting in thisissue. They followed 271 patients and found that extraocular tumour growth, ciliarybody involvement or a tumour diameter of >14mm were all significantly associatedwith a lower 5-year progression-free survival. In multivariate analysis, both timeto progression and survival were associated with ciliary body involvement and thisfactor also increased the risk for metastases (hazard ratio 6.9; P<0.001) duringthe first 3 years. "Taken together, ciliary body involvement and a large tumour diametercan serve as clinical inclusion or stratification criteria in adjuvant treatmenttrials", they concluded.

Employment after a diagnosis of cancer

Cancer survivors have a 9% lower employment rate when compared with age- and gender-matchedcontrols, according to authors reporting in this issue. Taskila-Abrandt and colleaguesfound differences according to education, cancer and type of work. Those with a highereducation were more likely to return to work and those with jobs that were more physicalwere less likely to be working. Some differences according to cancer type were alsoapparent with patients with lung cancers (and to a lesser extent with stomach, rectum,cervical and central nervous system cancers and leukaemias) not all returning towork. "More research is needed to clarify both the environmental and personal factorsthat predict the successful return to work of cancer survivors".