Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25025957›Full record

Trial reportBritish journal of cancer2014

BRCA1 mRNA levels following a 4-6-week intervention with oral 3,3'-diindolylmethane.

J Kotsopoulos, S Zhang, M Akbari, L Salmena, M Llacuachaqui, M Zeligs, P Sun, S A Narod

Open access · hybridAbstract readClinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in British journal of cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
2.6field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

J Kotsopoulos1] Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada [2] Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7 Canada.
S ZhangFamilial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada.
M Akbari1] Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada [2] Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7 Canada.
L SalmenaDepartment of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2M9 Canada.
M LlacuachaquiFamilial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada.
M ZeligsBioResponse, LLC, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
P SunFamilial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada.
S A Narod1] Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit, Women's College Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1N8 Canada [2] Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7 Canada.
Women's College Hospital · CAPublic Health Ontario · CAUniversity of Colorado Boulder · USUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHaploinsufficiency may contribute to the development of breast cancer among women with a BRCA1 mutation. Thus, interventions that enhance BRCA1 expression may represent avenues for prevention. Studies have shown that 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) can upregulate BRCA1 expression in breast cancer cells. This has yet to be demonstrated in vivo.

methodsWe conducted a study to evaluate the ability of oral DIM to upregulate BRCA1 mRNA expression in white blood cells. A total of 18 women were enroled in the study, including 13 BRCA1 mutation carriers who received 300 mg per day of Rx Balance BioResponse DIM for 4-6 weeks (intervention group) and 5 BRCA1 mutation carriers who did not take DIM (control group). BRCA1 mRNA expression was assessed at baseline and at 4-6 weeks by real-time, quantitative PCR and the relative change in BRCA1 mRNA expression (that is, 2(-ΔΔCT)) was calculated.

resultsThe relative change in BRCA1 mRNA expression among women in the intervention group achieved borderline significance (P paired t-test=0.05). In the intervention group, BRCA1 mRNA expression increased in 10 of the participants, decreased in 2 and remained unchanged in 1 of the participants following DIM intervention (P sign test=0.02). On average, women in the intervention group experienced a 34% increase in BRCA1 mRNA expression (range -24 to 194%). There was no significant difference in the relative change in BRCA1 mRNA expression among women in the control group (P paired t-test=0.45).

conclusionsUnder the tested conditions, oral DIM was associated with an increase in BRCA1 mRNA expression in women with a BRCA1 mutation. The possibility of mitigating the effect of an inherited deleterious BRCA1 mutation by increasing the physiologic expression of the gene and normalising protein levels represents a clinically important paradigm shift in the prevention strategies available to these high-risk women. Future studies with a larger sample size and higher doses of DIM are warranted.

Indexed as

Administration, OralAdultAgedAnticarcinogenic AgentsBRCA1 ProteinBreast NeoplasmsFemaleGene ExpressionHumansIndolesMiddle AgedMutationRNA, MessengerUp-Regulation3,3'-diindolylmethaneAnticarcinogenic AgentsBRCA1 ProteinBRCA1 protein, humanIndolesRNA, Messenger

Identifiers

PMID25025957
PMCPMC4183839
OpenAlexW2316917175

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.