Breast cancer patients microarray profiling

In recent years, the advances in microarray profiling, including both DNA microarray and tumor tissue microarray, have provided an unprecedented screen technique to systemically study the pathogenesis of breast cancer. These techniques have enabled researchers to simultaneously study the expression patterns of thousands of genes and hundreds of proteins in breast cancer patients. In this chapter, we will mainly discuss recent progress of our group in microarray profiling for breast cancer. There are several... 

Microarray analyses of breast cancer have identified unique gene expression profiles associated with patient survival. Sorlie et al. (23) found the expression profiles to distinguish ER-i- from ER- tumors with distinct outcomes in a cohort with locally advanced breast cancer treated with primary chemotherapy. Van t Veer et al. (18) established a 70-gene signature to predict metastatic potential in an untreated, node-negative cohort. Sotiriou et al. (24) showed the concordance with these previous analyses in node-positive and node-negative patients with the majority receiving adjuvant treatment. 

Furthermore, it is critical for physicians to determine which combination of treatment is most suitable for each individual patient. However, it still remains challenging to make an accurate predictive assessment of a patient s risk or response to certain treatment regimens. Advances in microarray technology promise breakthroughs in personalized medicine for breast cancer treatment. To date, the prediction models based on microarray technology for breast cancer have focused mainly on either transcriptional profiles or proteomic profiles, instead of the integrated transcriptional and proteomic profiles. 

---