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 Background & Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer occurring among women and the second leading cause of death from cancer among them. The mortality rate of breast cancer is directly related to the stage of the disease when diagnosed, and is reduced by regular breast cancer screening program. This survey is carried out to identify the knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Ardabil about BSE.

 Methods: In this descriptive study, 150 women with 20-25 years of age, were selected through systematic cluster sampling. Knowledge, attitude and practice of them about BSE were investigated through face to face interview, and the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics.

 Results: 44% of women had some information about breast cancer. 44.7% of them had average information about BSE. There was statistically significant relationship between knowledge of BSE on the one hand and age, marital status and history of previous breast examination on the other. 52% of them believed in BSE for early detection of breast cancer. Their attitude towards BSE was positive (51.3%) and there was a significant relationship between their knowledge and attitude. 18% of the subjects practiced BSE at least once, and their overall practice was in a weak level (46.7%).

 Conclusions: Qualitative researches could be recommended to recognize the factors effective in the improvement of acceptance of breast cancer screening methods among women.

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  Background & Objective : Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide and accounts for the majority of their deaths due to the cancer. Hence, diagnosing its risk factors is of great importance. In this study the association between abortion and breast cancer risk was investigated.

  Methods : In this Case- Control study in Mashhad, 105 patients with confirmed breast cancer were compared with 105 healthy women who were living in their neighborhood and were the same age. A questionnaire including demographic information as well as same questions regarding the factors associated with conception and emphasising abortion were used to collect the data, which then were analyzed using SPSS ver 9.

  Results : the findings indicated a relationship between breast cancer and history of abortion, compared to women with no history of abortion (OR=2.09 95% CI=1.18- 3.69). Also there was a significant relationship between the frequency of abortion and breast cancer (P=0.008 ). but odds ratio was not higher among women whose age at first abortion was less than 20 years. Also abortion before first full- term pregnancy increased breast cancer risk (OR= 5.97 95% CI=1.18-19.6). But the age at the time of abortion did not have any effect on the breast cancer risk.

  Conclusions : The findings suggested that the risk of breast cancer has a positive relationship with frequency of abortion and the risk is even higher if the abortion occurs before the first full-term pregnancy. Thus, health interventions seem to be necessary in this regard.

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 Background & Objectives: Breast Cancer is among the most common types of cancer in women which in case of early diagnosis and treatment can increase women’s chance of survival. This study was performed in two case and control groups.

 Methods: This case-control study which was based on hospital records was conducted on 303 breast cancer patients and 303 control women. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS using Chi-square.

 Results: The study revealed that there were significant differences between the cases and controls with regard to knowledge (p<0.001) and practice (p<0.001) of breast self-examination. 61% of the cases and 32% of the controls mentioned BSE as a necessary measure for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. 76% of the cases and 47% of the controls were not aware of the proper time for BSE (p<0.001). More than two-third of the subjects in each group did not know the proper time and the necessity of BSE in menopause and pregnant women and these was a statistically significant difference between two groups in this regard (p<0.001). Women in case group had done more frequently than controls (p<0.04). Moreover, the BSE intervals in two groups was statistically significant (p<0.01). There was also a significant difference between the reasons of refusing to do BSE in two groups (p<0.05). Subjects in neither group had regularly referred to a physician for examination and early diagnosis.

 Conclusion:�Since the knowledge and practice of women and their referring to a physician for breast examination is inadequate, it seems necessary to devise educational program about doing monthly BSE and hold educational courses to promote women’s knowledge concerning the early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as its appropriate and regular performance.

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 Background & Objective: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) develop as recognition and defense against malignant cells by the host immune system. T cells are the most tumor infiltrating immune cells. There are controversial data about intratumor T cells and many have proposed diverse mechanisms for dysfunction of TILs. The aim of this study is analyzing Tumor Infiltrating T lymphocytes in patients with breast cancer by immunophenotyping.

 Methods: Sixteen women suffering from breast cancer were examined thirteen of them were confirmed histologically to be invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Tissue samples from patients and matched control group were processed for analysis by flow cytometry.

 Results: Results indicated that human breast cancer contain variable numbers of TILs. No significant changes in the percent of intratumor CD45⁺, CD3⁺ and CD3⁺/CD45⁺ cells were observed between studied group. Also there were no significant differences between cancer patients (group 1 and 2) and control group in the case of infiltration and activation status of T cells subpopulations. CD4⁺ cells in IDC patients and CD8⁺ cells in patients with other tumors (ILC+AMC) were the most infiltrated TILs. Intratumor TCD8⁺ cells expressed HLA-DR markers significantly more than CD25 as activation marker. In this investigation we could not find any correlation between TIL and both size and clinical stages of tumor.

 Conclusion: An immune infiltrate is an invariable finding in breast cancers, with considering the activation marker expression, TIL may be activated, albeit partially. Understanding the insensitive and/or suppressive nature of cancer cells to the immune system may provide important insights into tumor escape mechanisms as well as the development of anti-cancer strategies.

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  Background & Objectives: Breast cancer is one third of all kinds of cancers and the second reason of death in women. Prevention and screening can decrease affection and death rate. The aim of this study was to determine the breast cancer screening tests performance and affecting factors in women referred to Ardabil’s Health and Medical Centers in 2009 .

  Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 300 women referring to Ardabil’s Health and Medical Centers were chosen by multistage sampling. The information was collected through the researcher-made questionnaire including two parts: Knowledge and Attitude questions and a form about demographical characteristics, family, social and economic factors, risk and women-midwifery factors. For analyzing the data, SPSS software version 16, and descriptive and deductive statistic tests were used .

  Results: The percentage of screening tests including self-examination, clinical examination and mammography consequently were 4%, 4.7% and 3.7%. There was significant relationship between breast self-examination and education (p =0.003), knowledge (p =0/002) and attitude (p=0.004). No significant difference was observed between insurance status and history of hormone therapy and breast cancer screening tests.

  Conclusion: In regard to the low rate of breast cancer screening conducted and determining the affecting factors, the appropriate educational programs and interventional research are emphasized .

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  Background & Objectives : Breast cancer is among the most frequent disorders among the world. BRCA1 gene was known as a tumor suppressor gene which its loss could be resulted in various destructions in genome. Therefore, changes occurred in its expression level could lead to increasing the effects of oncogene activity on breast cells.

  Methods : RT-PCR and Q-RT-PCR were used for detecting BRCA1 expression status among 27 primary affected breast cancer patients. The association between its expression status and histopathologic data had been evaluated by statistical assays.

  Results: Eighty-five percent of patients showed BRCA1 expression and this expression as well as its quantity had significant associations with tumor grade. It was found that tumors with low levels of BRCA1 expression tend to have higher grades.

  Conclusion : BRCA1 has an important role in suppressing breast tumorogenesis. Corresponding to some of the previous reports, our findings revealed the role of decreasing in BRCA1 expression level as one of the factors which allows tumors to progress.

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Background & Objectives: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers of women in the world. Apoptotic pathway is one of the most important pathways to deal with cell damage, especially cancer, which is usually blocked in this disease. One of the main enzymes to set up this pathway is JNK (1,2,3α,3β), which is activated by cellular stress.
Methods: In this study, breast cancer cells with the origin of MCF-7 cell lines were cultured in RPMI medium using 10%fetal bovine serum.Then , they were subjected to heat (42 & 45 ^̊ C) for 1,2,4,6 and 8 hours under X-ray and γ-ray radiations for 1,2,3 and 4 hours as well. Their viability and enzyme level were evaluated by MTT and ELISA tests, respectively.
Results: The obtained results showed that abiotic stresses including heat and radiations resulted in JNK level increase and recovery of apoptosis pathway function in breast cancer cells. In addition, they led to decreased of cell viability and increase of JNK level depending on the duration and kind of stress.
Conclusion: The results in this study showed abiotic stress directly affected the JNK level. Increase of this enzyme in the cell resulted in activity of JNK apoptosis pathway. We hope to find methods to help to cancer treatment by means of more studies on JNK enzyme and relevant pathways.

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Background & objectives: Breast cancer is one of the most important cancers in women worldwide. Taxol as a chemotherapeutic agent, is used for treatment of breast cancer.The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in the expression of mir-1246 and mir-224 in four breast cancer cell lines after Taxol treatment with the goal of introducing them as a biochemical marker for determining response or resistance of breast cancer to the Taxol therapy.
Methods: In this in vitro study, four breast cancer cell lines including MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKBR-3 and BT-474 were cultured in RPMI1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS and antibiotics. Then, MTT assay was performed to determine IC50 concentration of Taxol. Cells were treated for 24 hours and then RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed. Alterations in the expression level of mir-1246 and mir-224 were quantitated using qRT- PCR.
Results: After treatment with Taxol, the expression level of mir-1246 was significantly up-regulated in two HER2-overexpressing cell lines, BT-474 (113 fold) and SKBR-3 (1.4 fold), and down-regulated in two HER2-negative cell lines, MCF-7 (45.5 fold) and MDA-MB-231 (7.7 fold). Expression of mir-224 was detected only in two cell lines including SKBR-3 and MDA-MB-231, and was down-regulated after treatment with Taxol (2.1 and 17.2 fold, respectively).
Conclusions: According to the different pattern of alteration in the expression level of mir-1246 in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cell lines compared to HER2-negative cell lines after treatment with Taxol, this miRNA could be a useful biomarker for responsiveness to Taxol in  different types of HER2-positive and -negative breast cancers.
 

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Background & objectives: Allium cepa has anti-cancer, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to flavonoid compounds. Allium cepa can prevent the onset and progression of cancer by removing free radicals. In this study, the preventive effect of Allium cepa in preventing the proliferation of breast cancer cells in BALB/c mice was evaluated.
Methods: In the present study, Female BALB/c mice at 6–7 weeks of age were subjected to the abdominal mammary gland subcutaneous injection with 5×10⁶ viable 4T1 cells. Eight mice were placed in 3 groups: healthy group, the patient without treatment and the experimental group. The experimental group received Allium cepa root juice, three weeks before induction of disease. Daily, each mouse in the experimental group received 0.1 ml / 100 g BW / day fresh Allium cepa root juice. Seven weeks after induction, the mice were exposed to deep anesthesia. During the test, the mice were weighed every other day and after the appearance of the tumor, by the end of the seventh week, the volume of the tumor was measured using digital caliper and the tumor mass was removed and weighed. The spleen was removed from the body and cultured in 1640-RPMI medium containing 10%, FBS, and ELISA test was used to measure IFN-γ and IL-4 levels. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 18. One-way variance analysis was used to assess the difference between the groups and, if it was significant, Tukey's post hoc test was employed to determine the differences between the groups. Also, p-value less than 0.05 were considered as the level of significance for examining the hypothesis test and deciding whether or not to reject the hypothesis.
Results: The weight of mice in all three groups increased and tumor weight and tumor volume decreased significantly in the experimental group compared to the patient group (sham) (p<0.001, p<0.0001 respectively). In the experimental group, compared with the patient group, the levels of IFN-γ (p<0.001) and IL-4 levels decreased significantly (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the use of Allium cepa can prevent and reduce the growth and proliferation of cancer cells and disease progression in breast cancer mouse model.
 

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Background & objectives: Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. In this study, the cytotoxic effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Colutea persica leaf and its synergic effect with doxorubicin were investigated on MCF-7, LNCaP and SKM (as control) cell lines.
Methods: Hydroalcoholic leaf extract of Colutea persica was prepared using maceration method and ethanol 70%. Breast cancer (MCF7), prostate (LNCaP) and fibroblast (SKM) cell lines were cultured in microplates (96 wells) and exposed to various concentrations (10, 7.5, 5, 2.5, 1.25, 0.625, 0.312 and 0.156 mg/ml) of plant extract and doxorubicin (20, 80, 320 and 640 nM) solution. The synergistic effect of 20 nanomol of drug and 0.156 mg / ml of the plant extract was investigated. MTT assay was employed to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of the extract on cell lines at different time intervals (24, 48 and 72 hours). Staining with annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) was used to identify different types of cell death either necrosis or apoptosis.
Results: The plant extracts had cytotoxic effect and cell viability rate was lower than fibroblasts. At different times, the concentration of 10 mg /ml of the extract showed the most growth inhibition of breast and prostate cell lines. The combination effect of plant extract with doxorubicin on cells was not significant (p<0.01). The Annexin V/PI flow cytometry results showed that the percentage of initial apoptosis, delayed apoptosis and necrosis in treated cells increased compared to untreated cell.
Conclusion: Hydroalcoholic extract of Colutea persica leaf inhibits the growth of cancer cells and induce apoptosis in breast and prostate cancer cells.

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Background & objectives: Breast cancer is one of the most common diseases and the leading cause of death among women worldwide. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of five weeks of endurance training in combination with curcumin on the cancer progression, intratumoral gene expression of angiomiR-126 and Angiopoietin-1 in breast cancer bearing female BALB/c mice.
Methods: The present study was an experimental study. 4T1 breast cancer was transplanted into forty female BALB/c mice. Afterward, they were randomly divided into four groups including, a control group (C), an endurance training group (E), an endurance training along with curcumin (EC) and curcumin group (CC). E and EC groups performed 40 min at a constant running intensity corresponding to 60-65% vVo_2peak at 0% inclination, 5 weeks (five days a week). CC and EC groups were treated by oral gavage with curcumin for five weeks (six days a week). Then, tumor tissue of all mice was extracted 24 hour after the last training session. Gene expression levels of miR-126 and angiopoietin-1 were determined by qReal-time PCR. Statistical data values were also measured by One-way ANOVA.
Results: The results showed a significant inhibition of cancer growth, increased gene expression of miR-126 (p<0.001) and decreased angiopoietin-1 gene expression (p<0.001) in E, CC, and especially E-C compared to control group. All of these changes were significantly greater in the EC group than in the other intervention groups (p<0.001).
Conclusion: It seems that five weeks of endurance training with curcumin supplementation possibly have a further effect on decreasing breast cancer mass growth by inhibiting miR-126 /angiopoietin-1 axis compared to other interventions alone.