Expression of human mammaglobin and clinicopathologic correlations in breast cancer: the findings in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Human mammaglobin (hMAG) is a secreted protein which has been detected in breast epithelial cells of mammary glands and has been used as a specific marker for breast cancer. OBJECTIVES: This study aims at studying the hMAG expression and identifying the significant predictors of hMAG expression in breast cancer tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The tissue samples were obtained from two major teaching hospitals in the country. They were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and the hMAG expression was evaluated using an established scoring system. RESULTS: Out of 84 breast cancer tissue samples, hMAG was expressed in 50 samples (59.6%). The expression of hMAG was found to be increased with cancer grade. The output of logistic regression model showed that hMAG was overexpressed in breast cancer samples from the first hospital (P = 0.014), but not with those from the second hospital. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that hMAG may serve in the diagnosis and the assessment of progression with the increased cancer grade. The dominance in hMAG expression in samples from HUSM may correlate with ethnic, environmental or genetic factors.

The effect of increased consumption of edible palm oil on the nutritional status, lipid profiles and lipid peroxidation among malaysian aboriginestc.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of increased edible palm oil consumption on community health status in the aboriginal communities in Tual Post (treatment group) and Sinderut Post (control group), Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Nutritional status, blood pressure, lipid profiles, fasting blood glucose (FBG), vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation product (malonaldehyde) levels were taken as indicators of health status. This is a pre-and post-controlled community trial in which similar variables were measured in each group. Every family of 2-6 household members was given 2-5 kg cooking palm oil per month for a period of 18 months. All subjects were measured for height (cm), weight (kg) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). For calorie intake measurement, house-to-house interviews were conducted using 24-hour dietary recall method. Blood pressure, percent body fat, lipid profiles, namely total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were also measured. Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation products (MDA) were also determined. There was a significant increase (p<0.05) in percent body fat (28.1%) and calorie intake (17.2%) following palm oil consumption. The proportion of fat intake as an energy source also increased from 4.6% to 33.9%. There was a reduction in the systolic blood pressure following consumption (p<0.05). However, diastolic blood pressure did not change. A significant decrease (p<0.05) was observed in total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglyceride. No particular pattern in fasting blood glucose levels was observed among the indigenous inhabitants following palm oil consumption. There was a significant increase in alpha-tocopherol levels (p<0.0001) and a decrease in MDA levels (p<0.0001) following consumption. In conclusion, high consumption of edible palm oil for 18 months was found to be not harmful to health. For the Malaysian aborigines, it serves as a good source of fat and energy.