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The amino acid transporter SLC7A11 expression in breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Nath, P., Alfarsi, L. H., El-Ansari, R., Masisi, B. K., Erkan, B., Fakroun, A., …Green, A. R. (2024). The amino acid transporter SLC7A11 expression in breast cancer. Cancer Biology and Therapy, 25(1), Article 2291855. https://doi.org/10.1080/15384047.2023.2291855

Breast cancer (BC), characterized by its diverse molecular profiles and clinical outcomes, presents a significant challenge in the development of effective therapeutic strategies. Metabolic reprogramming, a defining characteristic of cancer, has emer... Read More about The amino acid transporter SLC7A11 expression in breast cancer.

Characterisation of luminal and triple-negative breast cancer with HER2 Low protein expression (2023)
Journal Article
Atallah, N. M., Haque, M., Quinn, C., Toss, M. S., Makhlouf, S., Ibrahim, A., …Rakha, E. (2023). Characterisation of luminal and triple-negative breast cancer with HER2 Low protein expression. European Journal of Cancer, 195, Article 113371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2023.113371

Background: Breast cancer (BC) expressing low levels of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 Low) is an emerging category that needs further refining. This study aims to provide a comprehensive clinico-pathological and molecular profile of... Read More about Characterisation of luminal and triple-negative breast cancer with HER2 Low protein expression.

Obesity-associated changes in molecular biology of primary breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Nguyen, H., Geukens, T., Maetens, M., Aparicio, S., Bassez, A., Borg, A., …Desmedt, C. (2023). Obesity-associated changes in molecular biology of primary breast cancer. Nature Communications, 14, Article 4418. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39996-z

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer (BC) and worse prognosis in BC patients, yet its impact on BC biology remains understudied in humans. This study investigates how the biology of untreated primary BC differs acc... Read More about Obesity-associated changes in molecular biology of primary breast cancer.

The clinical and biological significance of estrogen receptor-low positive breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Makhlouf, S., Althobi, M., Toss, M., Muftah, A. A., Mongan, N. P., Lee, A. H. S., …Rakha, E. A. (2023). The clinical and biological significance of estrogen receptor-low positive breast cancer. Modern Pathology, 36(10), Article 100284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.modpat.2023.100284

Estrogen Receptor (ER) status in breast cancer (BC) is determined using immunohistochemistry (IHC) with nuclear expression in ≥1% of cells defined as ER-positive. BC with 1-9% expression (ER-low positive), is a clinically and biologically unique subg... Read More about The clinical and biological significance of estrogen receptor-low positive breast cancer.

Characteristics and prognostic significance of polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1) expression in breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Lashen, A. G., Toss, M. S., Wootton, L., Green, A. R., Mongan, N. P., Madhusudan, S., & Rakha, E. (2023). Characteristics and prognostic significance of polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1) expression in breast cancer. Histopathology, 83(3), 414-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14960

Background: Polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1) plays a crucial role in cell cycle progression,and it is considered a potential therapeutic target in many cancers. Although the role of PLK1 is well established in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as an onco... Read More about Characteristics and prognostic significance of polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1) expression in breast cancer.

High Inner Centromere Protein Expression Correlates with Aggressive Features and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Ibrahim, A., Miligy, I. M., Toss, M. S., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. A. (2023). High Inner Centromere Protein Expression Correlates with Aggressive Features and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer. Pathobiology, 90(6), 377–388. https://doi.org/10.1159/000529628

Introduction: Inner centromere protein (INCENP) is a member of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) and plays a key role in mitosis and cell proliferation. This study aims to evaluate the clinical and prognostic significance of INCENP in invasive... Read More about High Inner Centromere Protein Expression Correlates with Aggressive Features and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer.

RANK is a poor prognosis marker and a therapeutic target in ER-negative postmenopausal breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Ciscar, M., Trinidad, E. M., Perez-Chacon, G., Alsaleem, M., Jimenez, M., Jimenez-Santos, M. J., …Gonzalez-Suarez, E. (2023). RANK is a poor prognosis marker and a therapeutic target in ER-negative postmenopausal breast cancer. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 15(4), Article e16715. https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.202216715

Despite strong preclinical data, the therapeutic benefit of the RANKL inhibitor, denosumab, in breast cancer patients, beyond the bone, is unclear. Aiming to select patients who may benefit from denosumab, we hereby analyzed RANK and RANKL protein ex... Read More about RANK is a poor prognosis marker and a therapeutic target in ER-negative postmenopausal breast cancer.

Combined proliferation and apoptosis index provides better risk stratification in breast cancer (2023)
Journal Article
Ibrahim, A., Toss, M. S., Atallah, N. M., Al Saleem, M., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. A. (2023). Combined proliferation and apoptosis index provides better risk stratification in breast cancer. Histopathology, 82(7), 1029-1047. https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14887

Aims: Breast cancer (BC) risk stratification is critical for predicting behaviour and guiding management decision-making. Despite the well-established prognostic value of cellular proliferation in BC, the interplay between proliferation and apoptosis... Read More about Combined proliferation and apoptosis index provides better risk stratification in breast cancer.

The clinical value of progesterone receptor expression in luminal breast cancer: A study of a large cohort with long-term follow-up (2023)
Journal Article
Lashen, A. G., Toss, M. S., Mongan, N. P., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. A. (2023). The clinical value of progesterone receptor expression in luminal breast cancer: A study of a large cohort with long-term follow-up. Cancer, 129(8), 1183-1194. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34655

Background: The routine assessment of progesterone receptor (PR) expression in breast cancer (BC) remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the role of PR expression in luminal BC, with emphasis on the definition of positivity and its progn... Read More about The clinical value of progesterone receptor expression in luminal breast cancer: A study of a large cohort with long-term follow-up.

Expression, assessment and significance of Ki67 expression in breast cancer: an update (2023)
Journal Article
Lashen, A. G., Toss, M. S., Ghannam, S. F., Makhlouf, S., Green, A., Mongan, N. P., & Rakha, E. (2023). Expression, assessment and significance of Ki67 expression in breast cancer: an update. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 76(6), Article 357-364. https://doi.org/10.1136/jcp-2022-208731

Ki67 expression is one of the most important and cost-effective surrogate markers to assess for tumour cell proliferation in breast cancer (BC). The Ki67 labelling index has prognostic and predictive value in patients with early-stage BC, particularl... Read More about Expression, assessment and significance of Ki67 expression in breast cancer: an update.

The clinical significance of cyclin B1 (CCNB1) in invasive breast cancer with emphasis on its contribution to lymphovascular invasion development (2022)
Journal Article
Aljohani, A. I., Toss, M. S., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. (2023). The clinical significance of cyclin B1 (CCNB1) in invasive breast cancer with emphasis on its contribution to lymphovascular invasion development. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 198, 423-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06801-2

Background Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is regulated through complex molecular mechanisms. Cyclin B1 (CCNB1) was previously determined as being associated with LVI using large cohorts of breast cancer (BC) and artificial neural network (ANN) techni... Read More about The clinical significance of cyclin B1 (CCNB1) in invasive breast cancer with emphasis on its contribution to lymphovascular invasion development.

A Case Series Exploration of Multi-Regional Expression Heterogeneity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients (2022)
Journal Article
Xu, Q., Kaur, J., Wylie, D., Mittal, K., Li, H., Kolachina, R., …Aneja, R. (2022). A Case Series Exploration of Multi-Regional Expression Heterogeneity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(21), Article 13322. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113322

Extensive intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) is believed to contribute to therapeutic failure and tumor recurrence, as treatment-resistant cell clones can survive and expand. However, little is known about ITH in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) be... Read More about A Case Series Exploration of Multi-Regional Expression Heterogeneity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients.

Ki67 assessment in invasive luminal breast cancer: a comparative study between different scoring methods (2022)
Journal Article
Lashen, A., Toss, M. S., Green, A. R., Mongan, N. P., & Rakha, E. (2022). Ki67 assessment in invasive luminal breast cancer: a comparative study between different scoring methods. Histopathology, 81(6), 786-798. https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14781

Background: Ki67 reflects the proliferation activity in breast cancer (BC). However, an optimal method for its assessment in clinical settings has yet to be robustly defined. In this study, we compared several methods to score Ki67 to identify a reli... Read More about Ki67 assessment in invasive luminal breast cancer: a comparative study between different scoring methods.

Refining the definition of HER2-low class in invasive breast cancer (2022)
Journal Article
Atallah, N. M., Toss, M. S., Green, A. R., Mongan, N. P., Ball, G., & Rakha, E. A. (2022). Refining the definition of HER2-low class in invasive breast cancer. Histopathology, 81(6), 770-785. https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14780

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that breast cancer (BC) patients whose tumours express HER2 protein without HER2 gene amplification (HER2-low), can benefit from antibody–drug conjugates (ADC). However, the current definition of HER2-low BC re... Read More about Refining the definition of HER2-low class in invasive breast cancer.

Aurora Kinase A Is an Independent Predictor of Invasive Recurrence in Breast Ductal Carcinoma in situ (2022)
Journal Article
Miligy, I. M., Toss, M. S., Gorringe, K. L., Ellis, I. O., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. A. (2022). Aurora Kinase A Is an Independent Predictor of Invasive Recurrence in Breast Ductal Carcinoma in situ. Pathobiology, 89(6), 382–392. https://doi.org/10.1159/000522244

Aurora Kinase A (AURKA/STK15) has a role in centrosome duplication and is a regulator of mitotic cell proliferation. It is over-expressed in breast cancer and other cancers, however; its role in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) remains to be defined.... Read More about Aurora Kinase A Is an Independent Predictor of Invasive Recurrence in Breast Ductal Carcinoma in situ.

The characteristics and clinical significance of atypical mitosis in breast cancer (2022)
Journal Article
Lashen, A., Toss, M. S., Alsaleem, M., Green, A. R., Mongan, N. P., & Rakha, E. (2022). The characteristics and clinical significance of atypical mitosis in breast cancer. Modern Pathology, 35, 1341-1348. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41379-022-01080-0

Atypical mitosis is considered a feature of malignancy, however, its significance in breast cancer (BC) remains elusive. Here, we aimed to assess the clinical value of atypical mitoses in BC and to explore their underlying molecular features. Atypica... Read More about The characteristics and clinical significance of atypical mitosis in breast cancer.

Epigenome erosion and SOX10 drive neural crest phenotypic mimicry in triple-negative breast cancer (2022)
Journal Article
Saunus, J. M., De Luca, X. M., Northwood, K., Raghavendra, A., Hasson, A., McCart Reed, A. E., …Lakhani, S. R. (2022). Epigenome erosion and SOX10 drive neural crest phenotypic mimicry in triple-negative breast cancer. npj Breast Cancer, 8(1), Article 57. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-022-00425-x

Intratumoral heterogeneity is caused by genomic instability and phenotypic plasticity, but how these features co-evolve remains unclear. SOX10 is a neural crest stem cell (NCSC) specifier and candidate mediator of phenotypic plasticity in cancer. We... Read More about Epigenome erosion and SOX10 drive neural crest phenotypic mimicry in triple-negative breast cancer.

Standardization of the tumor-stroma ratio scoring method for breast cancer research (2022)
Journal Article
Hagenaars, S. C., Vangangelt, K. M. H., Van Pelt, G. W., Karancsi, Z., Tollenaar, R. A. E. M., Green, A. R., …Mesker, W. E. (2022). Standardization of the tumor-stroma ratio scoring method for breast cancer research. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 193, 545-553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06587-3

Purpose: The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has repeatedly proven to be correlated with patient outcomes in breast cancer using large retrospective cohorts. However, studies validating the TSR often show variability in methodology, thereby hampering compar... Read More about Standardization of the tumor-stroma ratio scoring method for breast cancer research.

Upregulation of Cyclin B2 (CCNB2) in breast cancer contributes to the development of lymphovascular invasion (2022)
Journal Article
Aljohani, A. I., Toss, M. S., El-Sharawy, K. A., Mirza, S., Ball, G. R., Green, A. R., & Rakha, E. (2022). Upregulation of Cyclin B2 (CCNB2) in breast cancer contributes to the development of lymphovascular invasion. American Journal of Cancer Research, 12(2), 469-489

Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a key step in breast cancer (BC) metastasis. Targeting the molecular drivers of LVI can improve BC patients’ management. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of LVI are complex and interconnected with various... Read More about Upregulation of Cyclin B2 (CCNB2) in breast cancer contributes to the development of lymphovascular invasion.