Abstract
BACKGROUND: The role of signaling pathways as part of the cell-cell communication within cancer progression becomes a crucial area. Chemokine RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted), also known as the chemokine C-C motif ligand 5 (CCL5) (R/C), is a protein on which cancer research focus due to its link with aggressive cancer development. OBJECTIVE: Research on fatty-degenerative osteonecrosis in jawbone (FDOJ) shows striking overexpression of R/C in these areas. Here we try to elucidate a potential link between jawbone-derived R/C and breast cancer (BC) and compare these findings by immunohistochemical staining. METHODS: Thirty-nine FDOJ samples extracted from 39 BC patients and samples from 19 healthy control were analyzed for R/C expression using bead-based Luminex(®) analysis. R/C levels from 5 BC patients were measured in serum before and after FDOJ surgery. Bone density, histology, R/C expression, and immunohistochemistry were analysed in 4 clinical case studies. The R/C staining of two FDOJ BC patients is compared with the immunohistochemical staining of BC cell preparations. RESULTS: A high overexpression of R/C was seen in all FDOJ samples. R/C levels in serum were statistically downregulated after FDOJ surgery (p=0.0241). DISCUSSION: R/C induced "silent inflammation" in BC is widely discussed in scientific papers along with R/C triggering of different signaling pathways, which might be a key point in the development of BC. CONCLUSION: Hypothesis that FDOJ may serve as a trigger of BC progression through R/C overexpression was set by the authors, who thus inspire clinicians to make aware of FDOJ throughout the dental and medical community in BC cases.