Gene-expression profiling in breast cancer

Abstract

In today's Lancet, Yixin Wang and colleagues report a promising study showing the use of DNA microarray data for improving risk assessment for patients with lymph-node-negative breast cancer. The investigators identified a diagnostic test based on expression values from a subset of 76 genes (probe sets), measured by Affymetrix microarrays (U133a oligonucleotide gene chips). Briefly, this test, when used to suggest patients to receive adjuvant chemotherapy (at risk for distant metastases) would improve the specificity by 38% and 37%, in absolute difference, compared with the conventional St Gallen and NIH criteria, respectively, while keeping the same level of sensitivity. Gene-expression profiles to predict distant metastasis of lymph-node-negative primary breast cancerThe identified signature provides a powerful tool for identification of patients at high risk of distant recurrence. The ability to identify patients who have a favourable prognosis could, after independent confirmation, allow clinicians to avoid adjuvant systemic therapy or to choose less aggressive therapeutic options. Full-Text PDF