“Gene Studies Narrow Breast Cancer Types.” By Charles Bankhead, MedPage Today
Analysis of gene-expression profiles has led to identification of four distinct breast cancer subtypes, each of which has numerous subtype-specific and novel mutations, data from an NCI-sponsored research program showed. The profiles subdivided breast cancer into luminal A, luminal B, HER2, and basal-like subtypes. The analysis identified almost all genes previously implicated in breast cancer but also revealed a number of novel genes not previously recognized as playing a role in breast cancer etiology. The findings provide a basis for moving forward with research into the origin and treatment of breast cancer, according to a report published online in Nature.
Source reference: The Cancer Genome Atlas Network “Comprehensive molecular portraits of human breast tumors” Nature 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11412.
Health News Review (Sep. 25, 2012) provides commentary about news coverage of the Nature study, “Young woman with breast cancer reacts to Nature study news coverage.”
“For many breast cancer advocates, myself included, the information contained in the recent Nature article is not new. Many of us have been attending conferences (alongside health journalists) in the past year in which these results have been presented. Missing from the media hype is the caution that an advancement in the knowledge or basic science does not translate into a change in treatment. Treatment for breast cancer will not change today, tomorrow, and possibly won’t change at all based on the recent findings.”
