vit-A metabolism and breast cancer

[Guest guest]

And this new finding from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, suggesting a link

between vit.A metabolism and breast cancer.

Problems with vit-A metabolism are reported also linked to thyroid

disorders.

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Thursday March 16 7:09 PM ET

Vitamin A-linked protein lost in some breast cancers

NEW YORK, Mar 16 (Reuters Health) --

New findings from researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York

City suggest a link between vitamin A (retinol) metabolism and breast

cancer.

The investigators found that tumors from some breast cancer patients have

lost expression of cellular retinol-binding protein (CRBP), which is thought

to be involved in carrying retinol to proteins in cells that convert it to

retinoic acid, the active form of retinol.

But the potential clinical applications of the finding are still unclear.

Dr. Mira-y- and colleagues looked at CRBP levels in 15 samples

of normal breast tissue and 49 breast cancer specimens. In 35 of the breast

cancer specimens, normal tissue next to the cancer was available and also

tested.

The researchers found that CRBP was expressed in all of the normal breast

tissue samples and in 33 of the 35 samples of normal tissue next to the

breast cancer. However, 24% of 49 breast carcinoma samples were negative for

CRBP, which was significantly different when compared with adjacent normal

breast tissue.

The study authors note in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that

CRBP was lost in ductal carcinoma in situ, an early-stage breast cancer, as

frequently as in invasive cancers, suggesting that it occurs early in the

development of cancer.

The significance of CRBP loss is not clear, but the authors suggest that

loss may provide ``a growth advantage to cancer cells.''

In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Spinella and Ethan Dmitrovsky of

Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, write that more study is

needed, including finding out if retinoid treatment can reverse these

changes.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2000;92:438-439, 475-480.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000316/hl/dsl_2.html

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