Christine Johansson

Long-term survival of women with basal-like ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast: a population-based cohort study

BackgroundMicroarray gene-profiling of invasive breast cancer has identified different subtypes including luminal A, luminal B, HER2-overexpressing and basal-like groups. Basal-like invasive breast cancer is associated with a worse prognosis. However, the prognosis of basal-like ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is still unknown. Our aim was to study the prognosis of basal-like DCIS in a large population-based cohort.MethodsAll 458 women with a primary DCIS diagnosed between 1986 and 2004, in Uppland and Västmanland, Sweden were included. TMA blocks were constructed. To classify the DCIS tumors, we used immunohistochemical (IHC) markers (estrogen-, progesterone-, HER2, cytokeratin 5/6 and epidermal growth factor receptor) as a surrogate for the gene expression profiling. The association with prognosis was examined for basal-like DCIS and other subtypes using Kaplan-Meier survival analyses and Cox proportional hazards regression models.ResultsIHC data were complete for 392 women. Thirty-two were basal-like (8.2%), 351 were luminal or HER2-positive (89.5%) and 9 unclassified (2.3%). Seventy-six women had a local recurrence of which 34 were invasive. Another 3 women had general metastases as first event. Basal-like DCIS showed a higher risk of local recurrence and invasive recurrence 1.8 (Confidence interval (CI) 95%, 0.8-4.2) and 1.9 (0.7-5.1), respectively. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Also, no statistically significant increased risk was seen for triple-negative or high grade DCIS.ConclusionsBasal-like DCIS showed about a doubled, however not statistically significant risk for local recurrence and developing invasive cancer compared with the other molecular subtypes. Molecular subtyping was a better prognostic parameter than histopathological grade.

A Comparison of Tumor Biology in Primary Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Recurring as Invasive Carcinoma versus a New In Situ

Introduction. About half of all new ipsilateral events after a primary ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are invasive carcinoma. We studied tumor markers in the primary DCIS in relation to type of event (invasive versus in situ). Methods. Two hundred and sixty-six women with a primary DCIS from two source populations, all with a known ipsilateral event, were included. All new events were regarded as recurrences. Patient and primary tumor characteristics (estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2, EGFR, and Ki67) were evaluated. Logistic regression was used to calculate odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals in univariate and multivariate analyses. Results. One hundred and thirty-six of the recurrences were invasive carcinoma and 130 were in situ. The recurrence was more often invasive if the primary DCIS was ER+ (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.2–5.1). Primary DCIS being HER2+ (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.9), EGFR+ (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2–0.9), and ER95−/HER2+ (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1–0.6) had a lower risk of a recurrence being invasive. Conclusions. In this study, comparing type of recurrence after a DCIS showed that the ER−/HER2+ tumors were related to a recurrence being a new DCIS. And surprisingly, tumors being ER+, HER2−, and EGFR− were related to a recurrence being invasive cancer.

Syntactic aspects of the writing of Swedish L2 learners of English

The present study focuses on syntactic development in Swedish high school students’ writing. The data is drawn from the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC), consisting of essays written by Swedish junior and senior high school students. In measuring syntactic development in the students’ writing, we make use of various indices, including number of T-units, proportion of syntactically error-free T-units, and the subordinate clause index. In the statistical analysis of the data, syntactic development is analyzed across age, school level, and gender. Senior high school students write longer and more complex T-units, in that they have a more frequent and varied use of subordinate clauses. Contrary to previous research on gender differences in second language acquisition, our results show that, controlling for age and school level, there are no statistically significant differences between boys and girls when they write essays in English.

Pied piping and Stranding from a Diachronic Perspective

This study analyses the history of pied piping and stranding, that is, the placement of a preposition immediately before a (relative) wh-word (pied piping) or at the end of the sentence (stranded preposition). The study is based on the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English (Middle English prose texts from 1150–1500). In Middle English, nominal, or at least pronominal, wh-words occur as relativizers which can be preceded by prepositions. Pied piping is then used almost exclusively. Stranded prepositions are rare but the pre-stages of stranding can be discerned, such as constructions with both pied piping and stranding: of which … of and preposition + wh-word + resumptive pronoun: of which … of him. In genitive (and partitive) of which- constructions, only the preposition is pied piped (of wiche the voices). The data included in the study did not yield any instances of pied piping of preposition and the head of the of which-construction (the voices of wiche).

The use of relativizers across speaker roles and gender : Explorations in 19th-century trials, drama and letters

In Present-day English, the development of the relativizers has been towards a more frequent use of that. In 19th-century English, however, the wh-forms predominate. The present paper explores the distribution of that and the wh-forms (who, whom, whose and which) across speaker roles and gender in 19th-century Trials, Drama and Letters, and, in particular, describes the contexts in which that occurs. The data are drawn from CONCE, A Corpus of Nineteenth-Century English, consisting of 1 million words, covering genres representative of 19th-century English usage. The wh-forms are favoured by 19th-century letter writers, and speakers in Trials and Drama. A few female letter writers use that frequently, introducing a new, less formal, style in letter writing. In Trials, that is used most frequently by judges, lawyers and witnesses in typical environments: in cleft sentences; that is used with nonpersonal nouns and with pronouns such as something, everything and all. Playwrights may use that as a stylistic device to describe the speech of, primarily, waiters, maids, and other servants.