Decreased breast cancer survival associated with high TRAIL-R2 expression

High expression of TRAIL-R2, a cell surface receptor that triggers cell death, has been shown to be associated with a decrease the survival rates of breast cancer patients according to a study published by Yale Cancer Center researchers in Clinical Cancer Research.


Analyzing 20-year follow-up data from breast cancer patients, using an automated quantitative analysis system (AQUATM) to review tissue microarray specimens, the researchers identified increased intensity of TRAIL receptor expression. AQUATM scores were correlated with clinical and pathologic variables. In addition, TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 expression were both studied on 95 unmatched normal breast specimens.

Yale Researchers concluded that while TRAIL-R1 expression was not associated with survival, high TRAIL-R2 expression strongly correlated with decreased survival.

“A number of TRAIL receptor targeting therapies are currently in clinical development. As with other targeted therapies, it is important to determine which patients are more likely to respond to these therapies,” said Harriet Kluger, MD, author on the study and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine. “AQUATM allows us to stratify patients based on expression levels of drug targets in an automated, unbiased fashion. This will help us reach our ultimate goal of practicing personalized medicine, by treating patients based on characteristics of individual tumors,”

The AQUATM system measures and localizes specific variations in protein expression within tissue automatically, with a high level of precision. The multi-tissue proteomic analysis system combines fluorescence-based imaging with automated microscopy and high-throughput tissue microarray technologies. HistoRx has exclusively licensed the AQUATM technology that was developed by David Rimm, M.D., Ph.D. and Robert Camp, M.D., of the Yale University School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center.

Media Contact

Janet Rettig Emanuel EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.yale.edu

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors