NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While a great deal has been learned recently about the expression profiles of genes in breast cancer tumor cells, little has been known about gene expression in normal breast cells. Now, British researchers have elucidated the expression profiles of more than 6000 genes in noncancerous breast cells.
In the May issue of Cancer Research, a multicenter team led by Dr. Sunil R. Lakhani, of The Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre in London, explains that most breast cancers originate in either the luminal or the myoepithelial cells. Using tissues obtained from women undergoing reduction mammoplasty, the researchers separated and purified these two cell types.
According to their article, with gene expression microarray analysis they were able to generate “comprehensive expression profiles of the two normal cell types.” With this information, the researchers then sought to identify prognostic markers for survival. They analyzed archived breast tumor samples from patients for whom up to 10 years of follow-up data were available.
“Loss of expression of luminal epithelial marker LGALS3 (galectin 3) correlated with a shorter overall survival in lymph node positive patients, while the expression of SPARC (osteonectin), a myoepithelial marker, was an independent marker of poor prognosis in breast cancers as a whole,” the authors report.
In a press release from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London, co-author Dr. A. Munro Neville points out that the “vast majority of breast cancer experiments have used tumor samples because that was usually the only material available.”
Now “we...know the baseline expression of genes in...normal cell types,” Dr. Neville continued. “So we can go back through all the data from the experiments with tumor samples, and discriminate between the genetic changes due to cell type differences and genetic changes due to cancer.”
Cancer Res, 2004.
MeSH Headings:Biological Factors: Immunologic and Biological Factors: Tumor Markers, Biological: Biological Markers: Chemical Actions and Uses: Chemical Actions: Chemicals and DrugsCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
