European Journal of Cancer: 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-Lev and colleagues report in this issue. Using different inhibitors, they showed mitogen-activated kinase inhibition reduced their expression in one cell line, whereas phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase inhibition had the same effect on another cell line. "Recognising which signalling pathway 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 for future adjuvant therapy, according to Schmittel and colleagues reporting in this issue. They followed 271 patients and found that extraocular tumour growth, ciliary body involvement or a tumour diameter of >14mm were all significantly associated with a lower 5-year progression-free survival. In multivariate analysis, both time to progression and survival were associated with ciliary body involvement and this factor also increased the risk for metastases (hazard ratio 6.9; P<0.001) during the first 3 years. "Taken together, ciliary body involvement and a large tumour diameter can serve as clinical inclusion or stratification criteria in adjuvant treatment trials", they concluded.

Employment after a diagnosis of cancer

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

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