The ability to predict the recurrence risk in breast cancer patients is not available for the individual. It is commonly accepted that the different clinical course of tumours with identical histology and stage are the result of differences at the molecular level. This case study of 80 patients affected by breast cancer looked at the messenger ribonucleic acid expression level of 22 genes, by using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Our results showed that a panel of seven genes is associated to patients' survival. Moreover, the combination of two couples of genes is able to define short- and long-living cohorts of patients. In particular, our findings strongly demonstrate that retinoblastoma (RB) and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) on one side and cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on the other may affect the clinical course of the disease in 56% of patients. Groups characterised by low RB and high CDK2 as with low CK8 and high HER2 have a higher risk of recurrences and death in 5 years. The identification of these sub-groups of patients with higher risk of early relapse could have further involvement in the selection of the cases to submit to therapy against HER2 or CDK2 as a possible therapy target.

Molecular characterisation of breast cancer patients at high and low recurrence risk

BONIN, Serena;DOTTI, ISABELLA;STANTA, GIORGIO
2008-01-01

Abstract

The ability to predict the recurrence risk in breast cancer patients is not available for the individual. It is commonly accepted that the different clinical course of tumours with identical histology and stage are the result of differences at the molecular level. This case study of 80 patients affected by breast cancer looked at the messenger ribonucleic acid expression level of 22 genes, by using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Our results showed that a panel of seven genes is associated to patients' survival. Moreover, the combination of two couples of genes is able to define short- and long-living cohorts of patients. In particular, our findings strongly demonstrate that retinoblastoma (RB) and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) on one side and cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on the other may affect the clinical course of the disease in 56% of patients. Groups characterised by low RB and high CDK2 as with low CK8 and high HER2 have a higher risk of recurrences and death in 5 years. The identification of these sub-groups of patients with higher risk of early relapse could have further involvement in the selection of the cases to submit to therapy against HER2 or CDK2 as a possible therapy target.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11368/1836381
 Avviso

Registrazione in corso di verifica.
La registrazione di questo prodotto non è ancora stata validata in ArTS.

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 5
  • Scopus 11
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 12
social impact