Work done on this project enabled the discovery of 76- gene signature of breast cancer tumor, which clearly separates patients with operable breast cancer into two groups with good or bad prognosis, respectively. The research in the frame of this particular project also proved that there is not only one gene signature, which defines the course of breast cancer, but there are in fact many different signatures, including various oncogenes i.e. suppressor genes, that code for uncontrolled growth and proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of tumor cells.
COBISS.SI-ID: 314491
Co-authorship of a chapter in the book on targeted cancer treatment. In this chapter the main author, leader of our research group, first presents options for targeted breast cancer treatment and later focuses on the only targeted breast cancer treatment that has been proven to be effective so far - trastuzumab treatment. Especially uPA and its inhibitors are currently the subject of intensive preclinical research as well as phase 1 clinical research of targeted breast cancer treatment with protease inhibitors.
COBISS.SI-ID: 327035
Showing a series of 150 patients with invasive breast carcinoma, which were treated with mastectomy and later with reconstructive breast surgery using a free TRAM section from the belly. After a median follow up of 60 months, the disease reappeared in only 1 patient. This proved that reconstruction using free sections after a mastectomy is oncologically speaking safe. This research included the second highest number of patients worldwide.
COBISS.SI-ID: 535675
In the frame of this work it was established, that catepsine D has no prognostic value in breast cancer, while the content of catepsine L in primary tumor, in our analysis of 715 patients with breast cancer, proved to have a significant prognostic as well as predictive value for response to systemic therapy in our collectiev of patients. The outcomes of this research work provide new comprehension and knowledge of the predictive value of proteases in breast cancer and other cancers.
COBISS.SI-ID: 19893977
Publication of an overview article on the predictive value of proteases in breast cancer in an internationally acclaimed journal, cited by SCI and with IF higher than 2. The article offers a clear and thorough overview over the whole field and at the same time includes the completed work of our research group into this context. Some important, unanswered questions in the field of prognostic and predictive factors of breast cancer are also set out in the article, thus pointing out possible future international research work that needs to be done in this field.
COBISS.SI-ID: 299131