Study of Breast Cancer Genes to Provide Basis for Tests

A retrospective study of genes activated in invasive breast cancer tumor cells isolated from archived biopsy samples is expected to provide the basis for new molecular diagnostic tests that will help doctors select appropriate treatment for breast cancer patients. The study was presented at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (TX, USA).

In the study, researchers analyzed 300 biopsies samples, collected over the past 18 years from patient volunteers at hospitals throughout Kentucky and frozen immediately after surgery, then archived to preserve the DNA and RNA within the samples. The researchers identified and precisely isolated pure populations of tumor cells using the Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) instrument developed by Arcturus (Mountan View, CA, USA).

Using extraction and amplification reagents and custom DNA microarrays designed by Arcturus, the researchers measured which of the nearly 22,000 profiled genes were active, or expressed, within the microdissected tumor cells. By matching the resulting genetic information with clinical and follow-up data for each patient, they discovered important gene expression signatures that may lead to tests that can identify patients with a greater probability of responding to hormone therapy, determine patients with a higher likelihood of tumor recurrence, and diagnose more-aggressive tumors at earlier stages.

"The approach described appears ready to test in a multi-institutional cooperative clinical study,” said Donald M. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., professor of oncology at the University of Louisville (KY, USA) and director of the James Brown Cancer Center there, where the study took place.




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