title: 17HSD 2 may be higher in African-American breast cancer and is associated with estrogen receptor-negative tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  African-American women develop more aggressive breast cancers and at an earlier age compared with Caucasian women.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared gene expression profiles of breast cancer cell lines that were developed from African-American and Caucasian patients to identify biological differences in breast cancers that develop in these groups. Real-time PCR was used to evaluate mRNA expression in cell lines and in a series of breast cancer cases. Gene microarray signal intensities were also analyzed in the International Genomics Consortium Expression Project for Oncology (expO) dataset.
  
  
  RESULTS
  17,-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (17HSD 2) gene and mRNA expression were significantly higher in the African-American cell lines (p<0.05). However, 17HSD 2 expression did not differ significantly between the two cohorts in either our clinical series or the expO dataset. 17HSD 2 expression was found to be predictive of younger age at diagnosis and estrogen receptor status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overexpression of 17HSD 2 in African-American breast cancer may contribute to the increased proportion of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers and worse clinical outcome among African-American patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Rona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yaeger
authors.forename: Patricia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Alexa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avila-Bront
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying Kuen K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Vibhav S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Rangarajan
authors.forename: Hanina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hibshoosh
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Joe
mesh_terms: D015067:17-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001741:Black or African American; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004960:Estradiol Dehydrogenases; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D010641:Phenotype; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D015067:17-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases; D004960:Estradiol Dehydrogenases; C523763:HSD17B2 protein, human