Objective To summarize the relation between tumor location and lymph node metastasis in early stage of breast cancer, which is aimed at providing a more individualized treatment for breast cancer patients. Method The literatures about breast cancer location and lymph node metastasis in recent years were extracted, through the literatures study we made a thematic review of the relation between them. Results There were two main classification methods for the location of breast tumors at present: tumor in the different quadrants and tumor to skin distance. In the quadrant classification method, the tumor in the upper inner quadrant (UIQ) had the lowest lymph node metastasis rate, while the lower inner quadrant (LIQ) tumor recurrence-free survival rate and overall survival rate were significantly lower than other quadrants. When measuring tumor to skin distance, the closer the tumor was to the skin, the more likely lymph node metastasis occurred. In combination with the distribution, histology, and anatomical differences of lymphatic and lymphatic networks, our study group proposed to classify tumors according to different anatomical levels of the breast, thus the anatomic location of the tumor was divided into four types: constricted in the gland, break the anterior gland, break the posterior gland, and break both anterior and posterior gland. Conclusions Regardless of the way the location is classified, the location of breast tumors is closely related to lymphatic and lymph node metastasis. The new classification according to the distribution of tumors at different anatomical levels of the breast accords with the law of lymphatic metastasis is scientific and reasonable. Therefore, during clinical practices, we recommend to use the new method to classify tumor location, and we should consider the differences in the location of the patients’ tumor to assess the status of axillary lymph node, which may provide a more individualized treatment for breast cancer patients.
ObjectiveTo explore the key modules and Hub genes related to the development of breast cancer from the level of gene network, and to verify whether these Hub genes have breast cancer specificity.MethodsThe key modules for the development of breast cancer were screened by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The gene annotation database Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to enrich the function of the modules, exploring the Hub genes having the highest correlation between the development of breast cancer. Simultaneously, we analyzed the relationship between Hub genes and tumor collection unit.ResultsWGCNA defined 10 co-expression modules, of which the blue module was the key module related to the development of breast cancer and other malignant tumors. The genes included in this module were significantly enriched in pathways such as the Cell Cycle pathway (KEGG ID: cfa04110), the Viral Oncogenic pathway (KEGG ID: hsa05203), Cancer pathway (KEGG ID: hsa05200), and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (KEGG ID: hsa05322). The top eight Hub genes were finally extracted from the blue module including NUSAP1, FOXM1, KIF20A, BIRC5, TOP2A, RRM2, CEP55, and ASPM. Among them, NUSAP1, KIF20A, TOP2A, CEP55 and ASPM were also closely related to the occurrence and development of tumor collection unit.ConclusionWGCNA can screen for key modules and Hub genes which are biologically relevant to the clinical features of our interest, and the Hub genes have no breast cancer specificity participating in breast cancer development .