Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research

BACKGROUND: Hollow spaces in the jawbone have been defined as fatty degenerative osteonecrosis of jawbone (FDOJ) and have been linked with a dysregulated immune system. Little is known about the underlying relationship.

OBJECTIVES: Samples of FDOJ were analyzed to assess expression of cytokines which can play a role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer (MaCa).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Samples of FDOJ extracted from 23 patients with MaCa and 19 healthy control jawbone samples were analyzed for 7 immune messengers.

RESULTS: RANTES was found to be highly overexpressed in disease samples. No change was observed in expression levels of the other immune mediators.

DISCUSSION: This data provides a compelling confirmation that FDOJ produces high levels of RANTES, a cytokine implicated in MaCa and me-tastasis. Levels detected in FDOJ are five-fold higher than that previously reported for MaCa tissue suggesting its role as a cytokine source in MaCa.

CONCLUSION: We thus hypothesize that FDOJ may serve as an expeditor of MaCa progression, through RANTES production.