乳腺癌易感基因突变的狭窄分布及其人群差异性

最近10多年来,包括最重要的BRCA1/2在内的多种女性乳腺癌发生发展相关易感基因获得鉴定,并依据其肿瘤风险相关性程度被分别归入高、中和低外显率组别.随后它们的遗传学变异及致病机制研究在世界范围内得以广泛深入地开展,并揭示出其胚系突变具有人群或地域差异性,且局限于仅占10%~20%家族遗传性和早发性乳腺癌的狭窄分布概貌.这些结果转而提示对于大量散发性乳腺癌发病分子机制的研究而言,必须更深入地探讨多重低风险易感多态性复合效应的影响.     

乳腺癌易感基因BRCA1的研究进展

BRCA1基因是目前发现的外显率最高的乳腺癌易感基因之,编码一个相对分子质量为220000的多功能核蛋白,作用于一系列维持基因组稳定性的细胞通路,包括DNA损伤修复、细胞周期检验点激活、蛋白泛素化、染色质重组,以及转录调控和凋亡等。BRCA1丢失将导致显著的遗传不稳定性和生长停滞。着重介绍近年来BRCA1基础研究方面的进展,并讨论BRCA1与乳腺癌的临床关联性。     

BRCA1基因与乳腺癌

乳腺癌易感基因1(BRCA1)是具有遗传倾向的乳腺癌和卵巢癌的易感基因,且是一种抑癌基因.BRCA1基因的突变与家族性乳腺癌及它在细胞周期的调节,DNA损伤修复,基因的转录调控和诱导细胞凋亡方面起着重要作用.BRCA1基因的突变与家族性乳腺癌及卵巢癌的发生密切相关,对BRCA1分子功能的研究,将有利于阐明肿瘤发生的机理关.BRCA1的启动子甲基化与散发性乳腺癌有关.本文拟对BRCA1的结构,功能以及它的甲基化,突变,杂合性丢失对乳腺癌的影响作一综述.     

利用染色质结构检测技术研究乳腺癌易感蛋白BRCA1转录激活区突变

乳腺癌易感基因BRCA1突变引起的遗传性乳腺癌中40％－50％,其突变引起的遗传性乳腺癌和卵巢癌的比例至少为80％,许多乳腺癌易感突变发生在BRCA1 C末端转录激活结构域（1560－1863aa),但该区域大部分突变导致何种表型（良性多态性或乳腺癌易感突变）目前还不清楚,由于染色质结构调节是基因转录调节的早期事件,该文基于lac阻遏物识别和结合lac操纵基因的原理,利用染色质结构检测技术比较BRCAI转录激活结构域不同突变体与野生型的染色质伸展活性,将1种野生型,2种良性多态型（S1613G和M16521）和4种乳腺癌易感突变型（A1708E,M1775R,W1837R和Y1853term)转录激活区片段以正确相位融合于lac阻遏物的下游,得到野生型重组质粒pwt和pS1613G,pM1652I,pA1708,pM1775R,pW1837R及pY1853tem6种突变型重组质粒,Western blot检测表明,这些重组质粒分别转染A03－1细胞后均表达了相应的融合蛋白。对这些重组质粒的染色质伸展活性检测表明：野生型pwt和两种良性多态性突变体不具有染色质伸展活性或只有极微弱的染色质伸展活性,而其他4种乳腺癌易感突变体均具有过强的染色质伸展活性,提示利用染色质伸展技术可预测BRCA1转录激活区基因型与乳腺癌发生风险的表现型的关系。     

APOBEC3基因拷贝数变异与乳腺癌易感性的关联

为了探讨APOBEC3基因缺失拷贝数变异的多态性与汉族女性乳腺癌易感性的关联性,本研究应用聚合酶链式反应-限制性多态性内切酶技术检测281例乳腺癌和292例正常对照组。我们发现APOBEC3基因拷贝数变异位点的等位基因、基因型频率分布在乳腺癌和对照组之间比较有显著性差异(p<0.05),校正混杂因素后基因型Del/Del,Del/Ins,显性模型和加性模型下对乳腺癌的风险预测值分别为2.753 (95%Cl:1.363～3.560; p=0.005)、1.462(95%Cl:1.021～2.094; p=0.038)、2.282(95%Cl:1.155～3.508; p=0.018)和1.596(95%Cl:1.129～2.256; p=0.008)。研究表明APOBEC3基因的缺失变异位点多态性与乳腺癌的发病风险存在关联,等位基因del是乳腺癌发病的危险因素。本研究的结果可以为本地区群体的乳腺癌易感基因的筛选以及评估易感基因对患病的风险程度提供参考数据,为乳腺癌的防治、诊断和个体化治疗研究提供了帮助。     

基于多目标评价方法的乳腺癌易感基因排序及其网络表达研究

目的利用已有的研究结果和数据,采用多目标评价方法建立乳腺癌易感基因评价模型,对与已知乳腺癌基因关系密切的其它基因进行分析和排序,并给出结果的网络表达模式。方法通过分析已有的文献,并利用有关的基因数据库和已有文献中的数据,提炼出乳腺癌易感基因的多目标评价体系,构建基于加权和法的乳腺癌易感基因评价模型,并利用Cytoscape软件进行评价结果计算和评价结果的网络模式表达。结果利用多目标模型所得到的评价结果,与已有的研究结果一致。其中,乳腺癌易感基因TopBP1排名第二,已知乳腺癌候选易感基因HMMR排名第六。结论文章提出的多目标评价模型能够准确评价被选基因与乳腺癌易感性之间的关系,所提出的评价方法与相关软件结合使用,将成为癌症易感基因研究方面有效的分析方法和途径。     

乳腺癌易感蛋白2的结构和功能

乳腺癌易感蛋白2是由乳腺癌易感基因2编码的一种在维持哺乳动物细胞染色体的稳定及DNA损伤生物应答中发挥重要作用的蛋白质。文章通过介绍近几年来对乳腺癌易感蛋白2的结构研究,阐述其在双链DNA损伤修复中的作用模型及其在肿瘤抑制中的功能。     

南京地区青年乳腺癌患者GSTM1、GSTT1 基因多态性与易感性 的初步研究

目的:研究GSTM1、GSTT1基因多态性与乳腺癌遗传易感性的关系。方法:应用PCR技术检测乳腺癌组和对照组人群GSTM1和GST T1基因。结果:GSTM 1和GSTT 1基因缺失率在乳腺癌组分别为63.4%(59/93)和54.8%(51/93),对照组分别为39.3%(35/89)和33.7%(30/89),两组比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.01或P<0.05)。结论:GSTM1和GST T1缺失为乳腺癌遗传易感因素。     

乳腺癌干细胞的研究进展

乳腺癌是女性最常见恶性肿瘤.随着乳腺癌发生、发展研究的不断深入,乳腺癌干细胞日益受到研究者们的重视.乳腺癌干细胞是首次分离出来的实体干细胞,研究表明,它是一群未分化、具有多种分化和自我更新能力的细胞.正常情况下,乳腺干细胞的分化、更新能力受激素及信号转导通路的严格控制,一旦这种机制被破坏或发生异常,干细胞就会异常分化,变成乳腺癌干细胞,并无限生长形成肿瘤.乳腺癌干细胞具有放、化疗抵抗性,高致瘤性及高侵袭转移性,其在乳腺癌的发生、发展及复发、转移过程起到非常重要的作用.因而,要想更好地治疗乳腺癌就需要寻找针对这些干细胞的靶标,从而为临床靶向治疗乳腺癌提供依据.本文对乳腺癌干细胞在乳腺癌研究及治疗中的最新进展进行综述.     

共济失调毛细血管扩张症致病基因与乳腺癌易感性

乳腺癌是与环境因素密切相关的肿瘤之一,致癌因素诱发的DNA损伤信号被传送到多个效应因子,最终导致细胞坏死和癌变。其中,共济失调性毛细血管扩张症致病基因(Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated,ATM)编码的ATM蛋白激酶是DNA损伤应答的主要调控因子,其通过磷酸化一系列下游底物来应对DNA损伤,这在抑制乳腺癌的发生发展中起到了重要的作用。ATM基因突变后,导致损伤DNA不能得到正确修复,最终加速了乳腺癌的转化和增殖。随着对ATM基因结构、功能及乳腺癌易感性机制研究的深入,ATM基因与乳腺癌易感性关系已引起广泛的重视。以下就ATM基因突变、多态性和甲基化等几个方面与乳腺癌易感性的关系进行了简要概述。     

BCDB - A database for breast cancer research and information

In pursuit of a better updated source including 'omics' information for breast cancer, Breast Cancer Database (BCDB) has been developed to provide the researcher with the quick overview of the Breast cancer disease and other relevant information. This database comprises of myriad of information about genes involved in breast cancer, its functions and drug molecules which are currently being used in the treatment of breast cancer. The data available in BCDB is retrieved from the biomedical research literature. It facilitates the user to search information on gene, its location in chromosome, functions and its importance in cancer diseases. Broadly, this can be queried by giving gene name, protein name and drug name. This database is platform independent, user friendly and freely accessible through internet. The data present in BCDB is directly linked to other on-line resources such as NCBI, PDB and PubMed. Hence, it can act as a complete web resource comprising gene sequences, drug structures and literature information related to breast cancer, which is not available in any other breast cancer database. AVAILABILITY: The database is freely available at http://122.165.25.137/bioinfo/breastcancerdb/     

Estimates of the gene frequency of BRCA1 and its contribution to breast and ovarian cancer incidence.

The majority of multiple-case families that segregate both breast and ovarian cancer in a dominant fashion are due to mutations in the BRCA1 gene on chromosome 17q. In this paper, we have combined penetrance estimates for BRCA1 with the results of two population-based genetic epidemiological studies to estimate the gene frequency of BRCA1. On the assumption that the excess risk of ovarian cancer in first degree relatives of breast cancer patients and the breast cancer excess in relatives of ovarian cancer patients are both entirely accounted for by BRCA1, we estimate that the BRCA1 gene frequency is 0.0006 (95% confidence interval [O.002-0.002]) and that the proportion of breast cancer cases in the general population due to BRCA1 is 5.3% below age 40 years, 2.2% between ages 40 and 49 years, and 1.1% between ages 50 and 70 years. The corresponding estimates for ovarian cancer are 5.7%, 4.6%, and 2.1%, respectively. Our results suggest that the majority of breast cancer families with less than four cases and no ovarian cancer are not due to rare highly penetrant genes such as BRCA1 but are more likely to be due either to chance or to more common genes of lower penetrance.     

肿瘤转移抑制基因BRMS1的表达分析及机制研究进展

乳腺癌转移抑制基因1(BRMS1)是一个有活性的肿瘤转移抑制基因,参与抑制乳腺癌、黑素瘤、鼻咽癌、非小细胞肺癌、卵巢癌等恶性肿瘤的转移。BRMS1编码蛋白主要通过转录调控转移相关靶基因,参与调节细胞凋亡、细胞通讯、肿瘤血管新生等多种细胞事件。从BRMS1基因的分子结构、表达调控、生物学功能以及转移抑制机理等方面对BRMS1的研究进展做简要回顾。     

Multi-gene fluorescence in situ hybridization to detect cell cycle gene copy number aberrations in young breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is a disease of cell cycle, and the dysfunction of cell cycle checkpoints plays a vital role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer. We employed multi-gene fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH) to investigate gene copy number aberrations (CNAs) of 4 genes (Rb1, CHEK2, c-Myc, CCND1) that are involved in the regulation of cell cycle, in order to analyze the impact of gene aberrations on prognosis in the young breast cancer patients. Gene copy number aberrations of these 4 genes were more frequently observed in young breast cancer patients when compared with the older group. Further, these CNAs were more frequently seen in Luminal B type, Her2 overexpression, and tiple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) type in young breast cancer patients. The variations of CCND1, Rb1, and CHEK2 were significantly correlated with poor survival in the young breast cancer patient group, while the amplification of c-Myc was not obviously correlated with poor survival in young breast cancer patients. Thus, gene copy number aberrations (CNAs) of cell cycle-regulated genes can serve as an important tool for prognosis in young breast cancer patients.     

Integrated gene networks in breast cancer development

Breast cancer is a complex and heterogenous disease. Classical molecular medical approaches cannot fully understand and comprehend its pathogenesis. In this review, the development of new biological markers for the early detection and creation of guided and specific therapy of breast cancer are discussed in light of the rapid advances in the “omics”. Results of cancer research in combination with large-scale methods that examine the expression status of genes and proteins have identified a large number of new biomarkers as well as confirmed the human growth hormone as an important player in the pathogenesis of this disease through its autocrine regulation where it influences the activation of Pax5 and HOXA1 gene networks.     

Unique features of breast cancer in Asian women—Breast cancer in Taiwan as an example

Breast carcinoma is one of the most common cancers in women and is known to arise from a multifactorial process, the effect of reproductive risk factors strongly supporting a hormonal role in its etiology. Breast cancer in Asia is characterized by a lower incidence than in Western populations, but is still the leading type of cancer in Asian women, and a significant increasing tread indicates that it is an issue of particular public health importance. Asian breast cancer is characterized by early tumor onset, showing a relatively younger median age at diagnosis. Recently, scientists began to explore the tumorigenic mechanisms underlying breast cancer formation at the molecular level. Both a candidate-gene approach and genome-wide association studies have yielded crucial insights into breast cancer susceptibility genes initiating breast tumorigenesis. As expected, ethnic/racial variation in the genotypic frequency of these genes results in differences in breast cancer incidence in different populations. Furthermore, the question of how important these genes are in Asian breast cancer remains to be explored.It has been demonstrated that gene expression profiles and gene sets are prognostic and predictive for patients with breast cancer. Originally, due to its early onset, it was speculated that Asian breast cancer would have a higher frequency of the basal-like subtype of breast cancer, a molecular subtype characterized by poor differentiation, resulting in a relatively poor progression; however, recent findings do not support this speculation. The frequency of the luminal-A subtype of breast cancer, characterized by estrogen receptor expression, is similar to that in breast cancer in Caucasian, supporting the usefulness of hormone-based therapy in Asian breast cancer.     

类器官在乳腺癌相关研究中的应用进展

乳腺癌是女性最常见的癌症,目前乳腺癌的研究主要借助体内模型和传统细胞培养方法,然而研究表明,由于人类和动物之间固有的物种差异,以及器官和细胞之间组织结构的差异,使用上述两种研究方法研制出的药物,在临床试验中失败率高达90%,因此,类器官三维培养应运而生。类器官是一种具有空间结构的三维细胞复合体,它作为一种新的肿瘤研究模型,在精准医疗、器官移植、建立难治疾病模型、基因治疗和药物研发等方向具有广阔的应用前景,是未来生命科学研究的理想载体之一。乳腺癌作为一种表型复杂的异质性疾病,其患者生存率较低,而乳腺癌类器官可以重现人类乳腺癌的许多关键特征,故构建乳腺癌类器官生物库,将会为研究乳腺癌的发生、发展、转移和耐药机制提供一个新的平台。文中将系统介绍类器官的培养条件及其在乳腺癌相关研究中的应用,并对类器官的应用前景进行展望。     

Racial differences in genome-wide methylation profiling and gene expression in breast tissues from healthy women

Breast cancer is more common in European Americans (EAs) than in African Americans (AAs) but mortality from breast cancer is higher among AAs. While there are racial differences in DNA methylation and gene expression in breast tumors, little is known whether such racial differences exist in breast tissues of healthy women. Genome-wide DNA methylation and gene expression profiling was performed in histologically normal breast tissues of healthy women. Linear regression models were used to identify differentially-methylated CpG sites (CpGs) between EAs (n = 61) and AAs (n = 22). Correlations for methylation and expression were assessed. Biological functions of the differentially-methylated genes were assigned using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Among 485 differentially-methylated CpGs by race, 203 were hypermethylated in EAs, and 282 were hypermethylated in AAs. Promoter-related differentially-methylated CpGs were more frequently hypermethylated in EAs (52%) than AAs (27%) while gene body and intergenic CpGs were more frequently hypermethylated in AAs. The differentially-methylated CpGs were enriched for cancer-associated genes with roles in cell death and survival, cellular development, and cell-to-cell signaling. In a separate analysis for correlation in EAs and AAs, different patterns of correlation were found between EAs and AAs. The correlated genes showed different biological networks between EAs and AAs; networks were connected by Ubiquitin C. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive genome-wide study to identify differences in methylation and gene expression between EAs and AAs in breast tissues from healthy women. These findings may provide further insights regarding the contribution of epigenetic differences to racial disparities in breast cancer.     

单细胞测序技术及其在乳腺癌研究中的应用

乳腺癌是起源于乳腺各级导管和乳腺上皮细胞,由增生到不典型增生而逐步发展成原位癌、早期浸润癌至浸润性癌的一种恶性肿瘤。传统高通量测序技术对乳腺癌的研究主要是鉴定与乳腺癌发生发展相关的"驱动基因",但是对于乳腺癌基因组结构变化以及亚克隆的鉴定等存在一定的局限性,并且忽略了乳腺癌肿瘤细胞之间的异质性。近年来兴起的单细胞测序技术是以单个细胞为研究对象,对基因拷贝和基因表达等数据进行分析,探究乳腺癌的细胞组成、细胞状态和细胞命运,绘制乳腺癌生态系统图谱,对临床患者进行精准分层,为实现个体化治疗提供支持。同时,还可以揭示乳腺癌与T细胞、巨噬细胞等免疫细胞间的相关性,为发现乳腺癌新的治疗靶点、免疫检查点等提供参考。本文对单细胞测序技术及其在乳腺癌研究中的应用和研究进展进行了综述,以期为单细胞测序技术的进一步发展提供参考,同时为理解乳腺癌的发病机制和免疫治疗提供基础支持。