Yujing J. Heng

Sep 13, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Alice Rodrigues |Yujing J. Heng |Frank J. Slack

Acaca acetyl-Coenzyme A carboxylase alpha AKT activates protein kinase B ALT alanine aminotransferases AST aspartate aminotransferases AUC Area under the curve CD81 CD81 antigen CD9 CD9 antigen CEBPA/Cebpa CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha Cs citrate synthase Dgat1 diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 EGFR Epidermal growth factor receptor EV extracellular vesicles EV-A extracellular vesicles from aged mice EV-C extracellular vesicles from young mice EV-EX extracellular vesicles from young...

Jul 2, 2024 | breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com | Yujing J. Heng |Gabrielle Baker |Yaileen D Guzmán-Arocho |Stuart J. Schnitt |Sy Gitin |Paul Russo | +12 more

The effect of gender-affirming testosterone therapy (TT) on breast cancer risk is unclear. This study investigated the association between TT and breast tissue composition and breast tissue density in trans masculine individuals (TMIs). Of the 444 TMIs who underwent chest-contouring surgeries between 2013 and 2019, breast tissue composition was assessed in 425 TMIs by the pathologists (categories of lobular atrophy and stromal composition) and using our automated deep-learning algorithm (% epithelium, % fibrous stroma, and % fat). Forty-two out of 444 TMIs had mammography prior to surgery and their breast tissue density was read by a radiologist. Mammography digital files, available for 25/42 TMIs, were analyzed using the LIBRA software to obtain percent density, absolute dense area, and absolute non-dense area. Linear regression was used to describe the associations between duration of TT use and breast tissue composition or breast tissue density measures, while adjusting for potential confounders. Analyses stratified by body mass index were also conducted. Longer duration of TT use was associated with increasing degrees of lobular atrophy (p < 0.001) but not fibrous content (p = 0.82). Every 6 months of TT was associated with decreasing amounts of epithelium (exp(β) = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95,0.98, adj p = 0.005) and fibrous stroma (exp(β) = 0.99, 95% CI 0.98,1.00, adj p = 0.05), but not fat (exp(β) = 1.01, 95%CI 0.98,1.05, adj p = 0.39). The effect of TT on breast epithelium was attenuated in overweight/obese TMIs (exp(β) = 0.98, 95% CI 0.95,1.01, adj p = 0.14). When comparing TT users versus non-users, TT users had 28% less epithelium (exp(β) = 0.72, 95% CI 0.58,0.90, adj p = 0.003). There was no association between TT and radiologist’s breast density assessment (p = 0.58) or LIBRA measurements (p > 0.05). TT decreases breast epithelium, but this effect is attenuated in overweight/obese TMIs. TT has the potential to affect the breast cancer risk of TMIs. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the effect of TT on breast density and breast cancer risk.

Apr 15, 2024 | nature.com | Fabin Dang |Lin Wang |Wenxue Li |Felipe Batalini |Jaymin Patel |John G. Clohessy | +4 more

AbstractInduced oncoproteins degradation provides an attractive anti-cancer modality. Activation of anaphase-promoting complex (APC/CCDH1) prevents cell-cycle entry by targeting crucial mitotic proteins for degradation. Phosphorylation of its co-activator CDH1 modulates the E3 ligase activity, but little is known about its regulation after phosphorylation and how to effectively harness APC/CCDH1 activity to treat cancer.