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Objective: Mammographic screening and management of breast cancer (BC) in elderly women are controversial and continue to be an important health problem. To investigate, through members of the Senologic International Society (SIS), the current global practices in BC in elderly women, highlighting topics of debate and suggesting perspectives., Materials and Methods: The questionnaire was sent to the SIS network and included 55 questions on definitions of an elderly woman, BC epidemiology, screening, clinical and pathological characteristics, therapeutic management in elderly women, onco-geriatric assessment and perspectives., Results: Twenty-eight respondents from 21 countries and six continents, representing a population of 2.86 billion, completed and submitted the survey. Most respondents considered women 70 years and older to be elderly. In most countries, BC was often diagnosed at an advanced stage compared to younger women, and age-related mortality was high. For this reason, participants recommended that personalized screening be continued in elderly women with a long life expectancy.In addition, this survey highlighted that geriatric frailty assessment tools and comprehensive geriatric evaluations needed to be used more and should be developed to avoid undertreatment. Similarly, multidisciplinary meetings dedicated to elderly women with BC should be encouraged to avoid under- and over-treatment and to increase their participation in clinical trials., Conclusion: Due to increased life expectancy, BC in elderly women will become a more important field in public health. Therefore, screening, personalized treatment, and comprehensive geriatric assessment should be the cornerstones of future practice to avoid the current excess of age-related mortality. This survey described, through members of the SIS, a global picture of current international practices in BC in elderly women., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors., (©Copyright 2023 by the the Turkish Federation of Breast Diseases Societies / European Journal of Breast Health published by Galenos Publishing House.)

Lateral gene transfer events between bacteria and animals highlight an avenue for evolutionary genomic loss/gain of function. Herein, we report functional lateral gene transfer in animal parasitic nematodes. Members of the Nematoda are heme auxotrophs, lacking the ability to synthesize heme; however, the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi has acquired a bacterial gene encoding ferrochelatase (BmFeCH), the terminal step in heme biosynthesis. BmFeCH, encoded by a 9-exon gene, is a mitochondrial-targeted, functional ferrochelatase based on enzyme assays, complementation, and inhibitor studies. Homologs have been identified in several filariae and a nonfilarial nematode. RNAi and ex vivo inhibitor experiments indicate that BmFeCH is essential for viability, validating it as a potential target for filariasis control.

Background: Filarial parasites (e.g., Brugia malayi, Onchocerca volvulus, and Wuchereria bancrofti) are causative agents of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, which are among the most disabling of neglected tropical diseases. There is an urgent need to develop macro-filaricidal drugs, as current anti-filarial chemotherapy (e.g., diethylcarbamazine [DEC], ivermectin and albendazole) can interrupt transmission predominantly by killing microfilariae (mf) larvae, but is less effective on adult worms, which can live for decades in the human host. All medically relevant human filarial parasites appear to contain an obligate endosymbiotic bacterium, Wolbachia. This alpha-proteobacterial mutualist has been recognized as a potential target for filarial nematode life cycle intervention, as antibiotic treatments of filarial worms harboring Wolbachia result in the loss of worm fertility and viability upon antibiotic treatments both in vitro and in vivo. Human trials have confirmed this approach, although the length of treatments, high doses required and medical counter-indications for young children and pregnant women warrant the identification of additional anti-Wolbachia drugs., Methods and Findings: Genome sequence analysis indicated that enzymes involved in heme biosynthesis might constitute a potential anti-Wolbachia target set. We tested different heme biosynthetic pathway inhibitors in ex vivo B. malayi viability assays and report a specific effect of N-methyl mesoporphyrin (NMMP), which targets ferrochelatase (FC, the last step). Our phylogenetic analysis indicates evolutionarily significant divergence between Wolbachia heme genes and their human homologues. We therefore undertook the cloning, overexpression and analysis of several enzymes of this pathway alongside their human homologues, and prepared proteins for drug targeting. In vitro enzyme assays revealed a approximately 600-fold difference in drug sensitivities to succinyl acetone (SA) between Wolbachia and human 5'-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD, the second step). Similarly, Escherichia coli hemH (FC) deficient strains transformed with human and Wolbachia FC homologues showed significantly different sensitivities to NMMP. This approach enables functional complementation in E. coli heme deficient mutants as an alternative E. coli-based method for drug screening., Conclusions: Our studies indicate that the heme biosynthetic genes in the Wolbachia of B. malayi (wBm) might be essential for the filarial host survival. In addition, the results suggest they are likely candidate drug targets based upon significant differences in phylogenetic distance, biochemical properties and sensitivities to heme biosynthesis inhibitors, as compared to their human homologues.

The nematode exoskeleton is a multilayered structure secreted by the underlying hypodermal cells and mainly composed of small collagens, which are encoded by a large gene family. In previous work, we reported analysis of the C. elegans dpy-31 locus, encoding a hypodermally expressed zinc-metalloprotease of the BMP-1/TOLLOID family essential for viability and cuticle deposition. We have generated a large set of extragenic suppressors of dpy-31 lethality, most of which we show here to be allelic to the cuticle collagen genes sqt-3 and dpy-17. We analyzed the interaction among dpy-31, sqt-3, and dpy-17 using a SQT-3-specific antiserum, which was employed in immunofluorescence experiments. Our results support a role for DPY-31 in SQT-3 extracellular processing and suggest that the SQT-3 C-terminal nontrimeric region serves multiple roles during SQT-3 assembly. Different missense mutations of this region have diverse phenotypic consequences, including cold-sensitive lethality. Furthermore, the biochemical and genetic data indicate that the extracellular assemblies of DPY-17 and SQT-3 are interdependent, most likely because the collagens are incorporated into the same cuticular substructure. We find that absence of DPY-17 causes extensive intracellular retention of SQT-3, indicating that formation of the SQT-3-DPY-17 polymer could begin in the intracellular environment before secretion.

Zinc metalloproteases of the BMP-1/TOLLOID family (also known as astacins) are extracellular enzymes involved in important developmental processes in metazoans. We report the characterization of the Caenorhabditis elegans gene dpy-31, which encodes the first essential astacin metalloprotease identified in this organism. Loss-of-function mutations in dpy-31 result in cuticle defects, abnormal morphology, and embryonic lethality, indicating that dpy-31 is required for formation of the collagenous exoskeleton. DPY-31 is widely expressed in the hypodermal cells, which are responsible for cuticle secretion. We have investigated the dpy-31 function through reversion analysis. While complete reversion can be obtained only by intragenic suppressors, reversion of the Dpy-31 lethal phenotype also can be caused by dominant extragenic suppressors. Nine extragenic suppressors carry mutations in the uniquely essential collagen gene sqt-3, which we show is the same gene as rol-4. Most mutations exhibit the unusual property of exclusively dominant suppression and all affect the sequence of the SQT-3 collagen C terminus. This suggests that DPY-31 is responsible for C-terminal proteolytic processing of collagen trimers and is therefore a structural and functional homolog of vertebrate BMP-1. The results also demonstrate the critical importance of the collagen C-terminal sequence, which is highly conserved among all 49 members of the SQT-3 subfamily.

Centromere protein A (CENP-A) is a centromere-specific histone H3 variant conserved amongst all eukaryotes. We have isolated the chicken gene for CENP-A (GgCENP-A). It encodes a 131-amino-acid polypeptide that possesses an average identity of 54% with human CENP-A, reaching 69% in the histone-fold domain. The gene spans 1.7 kb of genomic DNA and contains four exons that range in size from 78 to 186 bp. The exon/intron organisation of the chicken gene is conserved with its mammalian counterparts in the carboxy-terminal histone-fold domain (exons 2 to 4), consistent with the strong conservation of this domain at the amino acid level. Sequence analysis of the chicken CENP-A locus revealed that the gene is located within the class III genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), and extended the previously defined limit of the compact chicken MHC complex. We compared the sequences of CENP-A from mammals, chicken and fishes and thereby identified conserved motifs in the otherwise variable amino-terminal tail that may be important for functional reasons. We also identified evolutionarily variable regions within the conserved histone-fold domain. We found that loop 1 between the first and second alpha-helix is the region that diverged most widely. This finding is in agreement with evolutionary studies in Drosophila species, and suggests that this domain could play a role in species-specific centromere targeting of CENP-A. In addition, protein sequence comparison of several vertebrate species revealed that the RT-PCR strategy we have developed for isolating the chicken centromeric histone H3 variant gene should be applicable to the isolation of CENP-A from a wide range of vertebrates.

Background: The present report was carried out to determine whether alcohol intake could induce prostate lesions., Methods: We tested male rats for 300 days. Animals were divided into three groups: controls received only tap water as liquid diet; the chronic alcohol intake group received only ethanol solution in semivoluntary research; and the withdrawal group received the same treatment as chronic alcohol intake until 240 days, after which they reverted to drinking water., Results: Chronic alcohol intake increased lipoperoxide concentrations and acid phosphatase activities. Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) was decreased at 60 days, but approached controls values at 300 days following treatment. The serum increased alkaline phosphatase, and alanine transaminase activities reflected the chronic toxic effect of ethanol., Conclusions: Since SOD activity was unable to scavenge superoxide radical and lipoperoxide formation, we can conclude that superoxide is an important intermediate in prostate damage of chronic alcohol intake.

Superoxide radical (O2-) is a free radical that may be involved in various toxic processes. Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase catalyzes the dismutation of the superoxide free radical and protects cells from oxidative damage. A rat bioassay validated for the identification of the toxic effects of azomethine H revealed increased serum activities of amylase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase. The lipoperoxide and bilirubin concentrations were also increased in animals that received azomethine H (1 g/kg) from ascorbic or hydrochloric acid solutions. Azomethine H increased Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase activity. This elevation of Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase activity was highest on the 7th day and was at levels comparable with those of control rats from day 60 onwards. Superoxide is an important intermediate in the action and toxicity of azomethine H.

Gross cystic disease of the breast may sometimes indicate an increased risk of breast cancer. Biochemical analysis of the cyst fluid could suggest which cysts are associated with breast cancer risk, as well as providing insights into the pathophysiology of this condition. The Na+/K+ ratio appears to be associated with the histological classification of the cyst. Sulfoconjugated estrogens and androgens, especially DHEA-S, are often found at high levels. A number of gross cystic disease fluid proteins (GCDFPs) have been described, and several polypeptide growth factors including EGF and IGF-I are frequently found. It is hoped that biochemical analysis of these components of breast cyst fluids will shed further light on the role of gross cysts in relation to breast cancer.