Medical Bulletin 05/July/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

ERβ mediates estrogen signaling in inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. Even with the application of a standard multi-modality treatment approach that incorporates neoadjuvant chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, the 5-year survival rate for IBC is only about 40–50%. Breast cancer can be typically stratified into different types based on the presence of molecular drivers such as estrogen receptor (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR), or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which inform the treatment choice.

For IBC, there is a substantially higher incidence of ERα negativity compared with other forms of breast cancer that can reach up to 60%. A specific targetable driver signaling pathway has not been identified so far. About one in three patients already have distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis, contributing to the aggressiveness and poor outcomes associated with IBC.

Reference: ERβ as a mediator of estrogen signaling in inflammatory breast cancer, Oncotarget DOI 10.18632/oncotarget.28425

New tool improves liquid biopsy

A research team led by UCLA researchers has made an important advancement to address one of the major challenges in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, also known as liquid biopsy. They’ve identified specific methylation patterns unique to each tissue, potentially helping to Identify the specific tissue or organ associated with cfDNA alterations picked up by testing, a critical challenge for accurate diagnosis and monitoring of diseases.

Cell-free DNA has significant potential in disease detection and monitoring. However, accurately quantifying tissue-derived cfDNA has proven challenging with current methods, among them determining the tissue origin of cfDNA fragments detected in these tests.

In a new study, the team developed a comprehensive and high-resolution methylation atlas based on a vast dataset of 521 noncancerous tissue samples representing 29 major types of human tissues. They call the approach cfSort and showed it successfully identified specific methylation patterns unique to each tissue at the fragment level and validated these findings using additional datasets.

Reference: Comprehensive tissue deconvolution of cell-free DNA by deep learning for disease diagnosis and monitoring, July 3, 2023,120 (28) e2305236120 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2305236120

Active older adults have a higher quality of life, study suggests

A reduction in the amount of time spent physically active when adults are over sixty years old is linked to lower quality of life, a Cambridge study of almost 1,500 adults has shown. The same was also true for increases in the amount of sedentary time, such as watching TV or reading. The researchers say this highlights the need to encourage older adults to remain active.

A team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge examined activity levels among 1,433 participants aged 60 and above using accelerometers. Alongside this, the team also looked at health-related quality of life. Participants were given a score between 0 (worst quality of life) and 1 (best) based on their responses to a questionnaire. Lower quality of life scores is linked with an increased risk of hospitalization, worse outcomes following hospitalization, and early death.

Those individuals who did more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and spent less time sedentary at their first assessment had a higher quality of life later on. An hour a day spent more active was associated with a 0.02 higher quality of life score.

Reference: Yerrakalva, D et al. Associations between change in physical activity and sedentary time and health-related quality of life in older English adults: the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes; 22 June 2023; DOI: 10.1186/s12955-023-02137-7