Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway regulates cell proliferation,differentiation,and takes part in the process of gene expression and cell migration.The recent researches have shown that abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signal is closely related to the development of breast cancer and other tumors.Elucidation of the relationship between Wnt/β-catenin and breast cancer can help to reveal its mechanisms and provide a new insight into breast cancer prevention and treatment.Here,we summarize the latest advances about components and mechanism of Wnt/β-catenin pathway in breast cancer as below.

Objective To investigate the reliability and feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in papillary thyroid carcinoma ( PTC ) using methylene blue staining techniques.Methods Nineteen patients,older than 45,with PTC were included in the study.No case had clinical evidence of cervical lymph node involvement(cNO).Methylene blue was injected around the tumor during surgery.The stained lymph nodes were dissected.Subtotal thyroidectomy and modified radical neck dissection were performed.Both the bulk specimen and SLN were submitted for routine histology.Results The sentinel lymph nodes( SLN )were identified in 18 cases,with SLN positive in 13 cases.The sensitivity and specificity of SLNB were 86.6％ and 94.4％ respectively.There was 1 case with SLN metastasis in the lateral neck,and 1 case with positive lymph node and negative SLN.Conclusion SLNB is sensitive in detecting cervical lymph node metastasis and has clinical significance in making operative plans for cN0 PTC.

Targeted therapies of breast cancer offer a possibility of effective and individualized therapy based on the molecular profile of the tumor.Currently there are three main types of targeted therapeutic drugs for breast cancer,the first category is the monoclonal antibody against the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) including trastuzumab,pertuzumab,lapatinib,T-DM1.The second is targeting VEGF such as bevacizumab.The last one everolimus is a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors.A number of trials suggest that the addition of targeted therapy to chemotherapy or endocrine therapy significantly improved PFS and OS in patients with breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in female,and the recurrence and metastasis is the leading cause of death.Previous image evaluation of breast cancer could not detect the tumor at its early stage timely.The circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood are like the seeds buried in the body,which cause the later recurrence and metastasis.So we can detect circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood to evaluate breast cancer progression.In present study,circulating tumor cells cau be implied more than three ways in clinical application of breast cancer.They could be used to monitor the therapeutic effect in breast cancer therapy timely,to analyze molecular classification of breast cancer and conduct clinical drug sensitivity tests.Although the value of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer has been widely recognized,many factors limited their application in clinical.Thus,we conduct this review about the current progress of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer.

DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic mechanism and molecular biological basis in tumor suppressor gene silencing.It is now well recognized that solid malignant tumors can release a significant amount of genomic DNA into systemic circulation,and with more than 90％ of this total circulating cell-free DNA derived from tumor tissue,which can reflect the overall cell heterogeneity of the tumor itself.In breast cancer,the presence of abnormally high DNA concentrations in plasma has been reported,and changes in the levels of these circulating DNA associated with tumor burden and progression have been confirmed repeatedly.Accumulating data strongly suggested that DNA methylation patterns found in circulating cell free DNA were similarly with the primary tumor,and could be a useful biomarker in early diagnosis,prognosis assessment,and recurrence monitoring for breast cancer patients.Here,we summarize the latest advances in this research field.

Long non-coding RNAs are RNA transcripts longer than 200 nt without any function of coding protein,and gradually become a new focus of cancer research because of their important roles in regulating genes expression at the epigenetic,transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.Recently,more researches show that are closely related to the occurrence of breast cancer and other tumors.Therefore,in this review,we summarize the developing understanding of LncRNAs associated with breast cancer.

Background and purpose: DNA methylation is an important mechanism for regulating gene expression, and plays an important role in the tumorigenesis. Study shows that DNA methylation is a potentially promising biomarker in tumor diagnosis, prognosis as well as treatment selection. This study aimed to analyze the methylation status and assessed possible clinical value of 3 DNA repair genes BRCA1, GSTP1 and MGMT in breast cancer samples of Chinese women. Methods:Using methylation speciifc PCR (MSP), we analyzed the methylation status of 3 DNA repair genes BRCA1, GSTP1 and MGMT in 106 paired breast tumors and corresponding normal tissues. Results: The methylation rates of BRCA1, GSTP1 and MGMT were 24.5% (26/106), 29.2% (31/106) and 18.9%(20/106) in breast cancer tissues, which were higher than those (7.5%, 11.3%and 4.7%) in paired normal breast tissues, respectively (P<0.01). Methylation in at least one of the genes was found in 50.9%(54/106) of the breast cancer and 19.8%(21/106) in paired normal breast tissues. And the mean number of genes hypermethylated in each tumor and paired normal breast tissues were 0.73 and 0.24, respectively (P<0.000 1). The methylation status of BRCA1 was more frequent in the younger patients than in the older patients (P=0.007) and most BRCA1 methylated patients were ER negative (P=0.020). Methylation status of GSTP1 was signiifcantly correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis (P=0.028 and 0.033, respectively). MGMT methylation was significantly correlated with tumor stage, higher tumor grade and lymph node metastasis (P=0.016, 0.025 and 0.030, respectively). High frequency simultaneous methylation of these 3 genes was more often in those with higher tumor stage and lymph node metastasis (P=0.028 and 0.007, respectively). Conclusion:Hypermethylation of BRCA1, GSTP1 and MGMT genes may be linked to various known clinicopathological features of breast cancer in Chinese women, and the increasing multiple gene methylation in tumors may indicate an aggressive phenotype for breast cancer. Detection of the methylation status of these genes may be useful for identifying patients at high risk for breast cancer.

Objective To investigate the anatomical relation between Zuckerkandl's tubercle and recurrent laryngeal nerve and the superior parathyroid glands anatomy in endoscopic thyroidectomy.Methods From Jul.2012 to Jun.2014 implementation of the 120 cases of endoscopic thyroid surgery (at least one side of the line lobectomy) intraoperative Zuckerkandl tubercle of the presence, all the patients from Subei People's Hospital and location of the relationship between anatomy recurrent laryngeal nerve and superior parathyroid glands.Zuckerkandl tubercle identified by intraoperative recunent laryngeal nerve to expose and superior parathyroid glands.Results Zuckerkandl tubercle appear in the vast majority of cases: on the left is 86％ (51/59), 88％ in the right side (65/74), most of superior parathyroid glands were located on the top of Zuckerkandl tubercle.Looking for recurrent laryngeal nerve by Zuckerkandl tubercle method is more direct, can reduce surgical bleeding and shmten the operation time.Conclusion Recurrent laryngeal nerve and superior parathyroid glands and have close anatomical relationship with Zuckerkandl tubercle.In endoscopic thyroidectomy by intraoperative discern Zuckerkandl tubercle can better avoid injury recurrent laryngeal nerve and superior parathyroid glands.

Study found that in some human tumors such as breast cancer,SOX7 gene is highly likely to be a tumor suppressor gene.The tumor suppressor role of SOX7 may be accomplished by regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway mediated the transcription process,and the abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is likely to play its role through the regulation of its downstream target gene Cyclin D1,etc,so that the ahnormal cell proliferation activity is unable to carry on,and thus plays the function of tumor suppressor.This review will summarize the research progress of the role of SOX7 geue and its closely related β-catenin,Cyclin D1 gene in breast cancer.

Background and purpose:Aberrant DNA methylation that leads to the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes plays important roles in development and progression of breast cancer. Clinically, related gene methylation is considered to be a promising biomarker for tumor diagnosis and prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the methylation status ofSox17 gene in breast cancer tissue and its corresponding plasma circulating DNA, as well as to investigate its value in breast cancer early diagnosis and prognosis.Methods:TheSox17 gene promoter methylation status was detected by MSP in 86 cases of breast cancer, 36 normal breast tissues and its paired plasma DNA, the results were analyzed with corresponding clinical and pathological features.Results:The frequency ofSox17 gene methylation rate among 86 breast cancer tissues was 77.9%(67/86), and was 61.6%(53/86)in plasma circulating DNA, however, noSox17 gene methylation was found in normal breast tissues.Sox17 gene promoter methylation in plasma circulating DNA was signiifcantly associated with the methylation status in tumor tissues (r=0.502,P=0.000). In breast cancer tissue specimens,Sox17 methylation status was significantly correlated with tumor stage (χ2=6.18,P=0.041) and lymph node metastasis (χ2=13.54,P=0.001);Sox17 gene methylation rate was signiifcantly correlated with tumor stage (χ2=27.06,P=0.000), tumor size (χ2=9.65,P=0.007) and lymph node metastasis (χ2=20.80,P=0.000) in plasma samples, and there was no signiifcant difference ofSox17 gene methylation between patient age, histological grade and ER, PR, HER-2/neu status.Conclusion:Sox17 gene promoter methylation plays an important role in the carcinogenesis and development of breast cancer, and may be associated with the prognosis of breast cancer. Furthermore, methylatedSox17 gene may be a useful tumor biomarker in plasma circulating DNA for breast cancer detection and disease monitoring.