Gene expression patterns as marker for 5-year postoperative prognosis of primary breast cancers.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the novel prognostic markers for breast cancer, gene expression profile was examined genome-wide.


METHODS
We used cDNA microarray consisting of 18,432 human genes to compare genome-wide expression profiles of eight primary breast cancers, four from patients who died of breast cancer within 5 years after surgery (5D group) and four who survived disease-free for more than 5 years (5S group).


RESULTS
We identified 21 genes whose expression was greater in tumors from the 5D group than in 5S tumors, and 23 with higher expression in the 5S group than in the 5D group. We established a Prognostic Index (PI) for prediction of postoperative prognosis, based on the aberrant expression profiles of ten of those genes. Among 20 additional cases chosen blindly, ten presented with high prognostic scores (>7, good) according to the PI; the remaining ten cases revealed scores <7 (poor). The PI predicted the actual 5-year clinical outcomes of these 20 cases with 100% accuracy.


CONCLUSIONS
Our PI system is reliable in clinical settings for predicting postoperative risk for breast cancer. The extensive list of genes provides valuable information about progression of breast cancer and suggests potential target molecules for treating this disease.
Onda
Masamitsu
M
Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Gerontology, Nippon Medical School, 1-396 Kosugi-cho, 211-8533 Kawasaki, Japan.
Emi
Mitsuru
M
Nagai
Hisaki
H
Nagahata
Takemitsu
T
Tsumagari
Kouji
K
Fujimoto
Takashi
T
Akiyama
Futoshi
F
Sakamoto
Goi
G
Makita
Masujirou
M
Kasumi
Fujio
F
Miki
Yoshio
Y
Tanaka
Toshihiro
T
Tsunoda
Tatsuhiko
T
Nakamura
Yusuke
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015854:Up-Regulation
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005819:Genetic Markers