October 3, 2008, 5:18 AM CT

Breast cancer cells recycle to escape death

A number of breast cancer cells facing potentially lethal antiestrogen treatment recycle to survive, scientists say.

About 70 percent of breast cancer cells have receptors for the hormone estrogen, which acts as a nutrient and stimulates their growth. Patients typically get an antiestrogen such as tamoxifen for five years to try to starve them to death, says Dr. Patricia V. Schoenlein, cancer researcher in the Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies.

"About 50 to 60 percent of these women really benefit from hormonal treatment," says Dr. Schoenlein. Why others don't has been asked for at least two decades.

One reason may be breast cancer cells switch into a survival mode that normal cells also use when faced with starvation, as per research reported in the recent issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. Dr. Schoenlein also is reporting on the research during the 2nd World Conference on Magic Bullets (Ehrlich II) Oct. 3-5 in Nürenberg, Gera number of.

It's called macroautophagy - autophagy means "self eating" - and within a week, breast cancer cells can reorganize component parts, degrade non-essentials and live in this state until antiestrogen treatment is stopped or the cells mutate and resume proliferation in the presence of tamoxifen. "It's like taking your foot off of the gas pedal of your car," says Dr. Schoenlein, corresponding author on the study. "The cancer cell is in idle, unable to grow or replicate. But the cell is smart enough to use component parts generated by macroautophagy for the most necessary things mandatory for survival." She notes that macroautophagy can't be maintained indefinitely; cells can actually self-digest. "This is a time-buying strategy"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

September 29, 2008, 10:37 PM CT

Birth size is a marker of susceptibility to breast cancer

Birth size, and in particular birth length, correlates with subsequent risk of breast cancer in adulthood, as per a new study published in PLoS Medicine by scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Associations between birth size, perhaps as a marker of the pre-natal environment, and subsequent breast cancer risk have been identified before, but the findings from epidemiological studies have been inconsistent.

In the new study, led by Isabel dos Santos Silva (Professor of Epidemiology), the scientists re-analysed data from published and unpublished studies to obtain more precise estimates of the extent to which birth size affects the risk of breast cancer during the later part of life and to investigate whether they could be explained by associations with other risk factors.

They examined 32 studies, comprising 22,058 cases of breast cancer among a total of more than 600,000 women, most of whom lived in developed countries. They observed that birth weight was positively linked to breast cancer risk in studies where information on birth size was based on birth records (eventhough not in those based on adult self-reports, which tend to be less accurate). Analyses of women with data from birth records showed that a 0.5 kg increment in birth weight was linked to an estimated 7% increase in the risk of breast cancer......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

September 24, 2008, 9:43 PM CT

Young women with early form of breast cance

Young women with DCIS, a common form of early breast cancer that arises in and is confined to the mammary ducts, are presumed more likely to have recurrences than older women with the same diagnosis. But a new study from Fox Chase Cancer Center rebuffs this conventional thinking.

"There are discrepancies among past studies that looked at the outcomes of very young women with DCIS treated with radiation, but a number of suggested a less favorable outcome than for older women," explains Aruna Turaka, MD, a fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Fox Chase. "Because each of these studies reflects diverse factors, including how the cancer was managed by the surgeons and radiation oncologists, we wanted to look at our institution's experience in treating DCIS in this population".

Ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, is generally treated with breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) and radiation. At Fox Chase, surgeons will usually re-excise the tumor site until the pathologists and surgeons have "clear margins," or find no sign of cancer around where the tumor was removed. General radiation guidelines dictate that the entire affected breast be irradiated. At Fox Chase, additional radiation also is delivered to the site where the cancer was removed. This is called a "boost." ......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

September 22, 2008, 10:31 PM CT

1-week radiation effective breast cancer treatment

Boston Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using a type of radiation seed implants called balloon brachytherapy, a newer type of radiation therapy that offers more convenience to early-stage patients with breast cancer by shortening radiation treatment from the standard six to seven weeks of therapy to only one week, is as effective in keeping breast cancer from coming back as the standard external beam radiation therapy, as per a research studypresented September 22, 2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston.

"Not only does it make radiation therapy much more convenient, it may actually increase the rate of breast conservation, since some women choose mastectomy because they live too far from a radiation center and cannot afford the time and expense of six to seven weeks of living or traveling to the center," Peter Beitsch, M.D., lead author of the study and a surgical oncologist at Medical City Dallas Hospital in Dallas, said. "Also, there are a number of women who for a host of reasons don't receive the necessary postoperative radiation and the shortened course should hopefully allow more women to receive the treatment that they need."

A number of women with breast cancer are able to undergo breast conserving treatment to keep their breast after therapy. Typically, this means they first have surgery to remove the cancer (a lumpectomy) followed by a course of radiation treatment to kill any cancer cells that may remain. The standard radiation treatment therapy takes a few minutes, every day, Monday through Friday, for six to seven weeks......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

September 22, 2008, 10:29 PM CT

Acupuncture reduces side effects of breast cancer treatment

Boston Acupuncture is as effective and longer-lasting in managing the common debilitating side effects of hot flashes, night sweats, and excessive sweating (vasomotor symptoms) linked to breast cancer therapy and has no therapy side effects in comparison to conventional drug treatment, as per a first-of-its-kind study presented September 24, 2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston.

Findings also show there were additional benefits to acupuncture therapy for patients with breast cancer, such as an increased sense of well being, more energy, and in some cases, a higher sex drive, that were not experienced in those patients who underwent drug therapy for their hot flashes.

"Our study shows that physicians and patients have an additional treatment for something that affects the majority of breast cancer survivors and actually has benefits, as opposed to more side effects. The effect is more durable than a drug usually used to treat these vasomotor symptoms and, ultimately, is more cost-effective for insurance companies," Eleanor Walker, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Henry Ford Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology in Detroit, said.

The reduction in hot flashes lasted longer for those patients with breast cancer after completing their acupuncture therapy, in comparison to patients after stopping their drug treatment plan......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 23, 2008, 4:55 PM CT

Over-the-counter anesthetic for mammogram pain

The simple application of a pain-relieving gel may reduce the breast discomfort some women experience during mammography exams, as per the results of a clinical trial reported in the online edition of Radiology

"We now have something that we know reduces discomfort with screening mammography in women who expect higher discomfortlidocaine gel," said the trial's principal investigator, Colleen Lambertz, F.N.P., a nurse practitioner at St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute in Boise, Idaho. "With a more positive experience, we hope women will undergo more regular mammography screening".

Breast cancer affects more women than any other non-skin cancer and, as per the American Cancer Society, accounts for more than 40,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Most experts agree that the best way to decrease breast cancer mortality is through early detection using mammography and clinical breast exam.

"Mammography is the only screening tool proven to reduce mortality from breast cancer in women over 40," said co-author of study James R. Maxwell, M.D., medical director of St. Luke's Breast Care Services. "Annual screening is the most important option available to a woman to best ensure early detection and decrease the chance of being diagnosed with an advanced stage breast cancer"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 22, 2008, 8:03 PM CT

No need for gene screens in breast cancer families

Research reported today should provide relief to women who are worried after a relative's breast cancer diagnosis. The study in the open access journal BMC Cancer shows that a family history of breast cancer does not give a useful indication of the likelihood that a woman will develop it herself at an early age.

An increased risk of breast cancer for relatives of patients with breast cancer has been demonstrated in a number of studies. As physicians and the general population have become more aware of this increased risk, the demand for referring healthy women with a family history of breast cancer for intensive screening or genetic testing has risen. Geertruida H. de Bock led a team from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands who investigated whether the increased risk was significant enough to accurately predict breast cancer.

As per de Bock, "Due to the low prevalence of early breast cancer in the population, the predictive value of a family history of breast cancer was 13% before the age of 70, 11% before the age of 50, and 1% before the age of 30." These numbers are much lower than most women would probably expect. As the authors explain, "Applying family history related criteria results in the screening of a number of women who will not develop breast cancer at an early age"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 22, 2008, 7:48 PM CT

New breast cancer test under study

Whether a painless, portable device that uses electrical current rather than X-ray to look for breast cancer could be an alternative to traditional mammograms is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

MCG is one of 20 centers internationally and the only place in Georgia studying new technology developed by Z-Tech Inc., to compare traditional mammograms with impedence scanning, a technique based on evidence that electrical current passes through malignant tissue differently than through normal tissue.

This phase of the study will focus on women age 40-50. Older women have less dense breast tissue so cancer is easier to find, says Dr. James Craft, MCG radiologist and principal investigator on the study. Mammograms, also performed in the study, are more accurate in this population, so this phase will be a tougher test of the new technology, he says. The first phase of the study, which began in 2005, was open to women of all ages.

"Normal breast tissue is very dense, particularly in younger women, and can hide tumors," Dr. Craft says. "While we've known for a while that water flows more freely through malignant cells, we also know that electrical current flows easier through malignant and tumor tissue".

The Z-Tech scan works by placing a flower-shaped grouping of electrodes over each breast and sending a small, painless amount of electricity through them. Unlike traditional mammography, the scan does not involve breast compression or radiation......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 15, 2008, 9:18 PM CT

Vitamin A pushes breast cancer to form blood vessel cells

Scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have discovered that vitamin A, when applied to breast cancer cells, turns on genes that can push stem cells embedded in a tumor to morph into endothelial cells. These cells can then build blood vessels to link up to the body's blood supply, promoting further tumor growth.

They say their findings, reported in the July 16 online issue of PLoS ONE, is a proof of principle of the new and controversial "vasculogenic mimicry" theory, proposing that, as needed, tumors build their own blood pipelines. This is very different from the well-accepted role of tumor angiogenesis, when tumors send signals to blood vessels to grow toward the cancer.

The study's senior author, Stephen W. Byers, Ph.D., a professor of oncology and cell biology at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, also says that this study helps explain why retinoids-- natural or synthetic vitamin A agents--have had mixed results in treating cancer. "Finding that vitamin A may cause some breast cancer cells to form blood vessels brings up the rather disturbing notion that therapy with these drugs may actually stimulate tumor growth," says Byers.

For example, use of beta-carotene, the most important dietary precursor of vitamin A and the chemical that makes carrots orange, has been found to increase lung cancer progression in a large clinical trial. Additionally, fenretinide, a synthetic retinoid, appears to reduce the risk of second breast cancers in premenopausal women, but increase the risk in postmenopausal women, Byers says......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 9, 2008, 7:28 PM CT

Herceptin targets breast cancer stem cells

A gene that is overexpressed in 20 percent of breast cancers increases the number of cancer stem cells, the cells that fuel a tumor's growth and spread, as per a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The gene, HER2, causes cancer stem cells to multiply and spread, explaining why HER2 has been associated with a more aggressive type of breast cancer and to metastatic disease, in which the cancer has spread beyond the breast, the scientists say.

Further, the drug Herceptin, which is used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, was found to target and destroy the cancer stem cells. Results of the study appear online in the journal Oncogene.

"This work suggests that the reason drugs that target HER2, such as Herceptin and Lapatanib, are so effective in breast cancer is that they target the cancer stem cell population. This finding provides further evidence for the cancer stem cell hypothesis," says study author Max S. Wicha, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Oncology and director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The cancer stem cell hypothesis says that tumors originate in a small number of cells, called cancer stem cells, and that these cells are responsible for fueling a tumor's growth. These cells represent fewer than 5 percent of the cells in a tumor. Wicha's lab was part of the team that first identified stem cells in human breast cancer in 2003......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 8, 2008, 8:49 PM CT

Young women's breast cancers have more aggressive genes

Young women's breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and less responsive to therapy than the cancers that arise in older women, and scientists at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy may have discovered part of the reason why: young women's breast cancers share unique genomic traits that the cancers in older women do not exhibit.

"Clinicians have long noted that the breast cancers we see in women under the age of 45 tend to respond less well to therapy and have higher recurrence rates than the disease we see in older women, especially those over the age of 65," said Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., a breast oncologist at Duke and senior investigator on the study. "Now we're really understanding why this is the case, and by understanding this, we may be able to develop better and more targeted therapies to treat these younger women".

The results appear in the July 10 Journal of Clinical Oncology The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Duke scientists looked at samples of nearly 800 breast tumors from women in five countries on three continents, and divided them into age-specific cohorts. The researchers found more than 350 sets of genes that were active only in the tumors from women under age 45. On the other hand, tumors arising in women over age 65 did not share these activated gene sets......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

June 18, 2008, 9:02 PM CT

Understanding Of Cell Behaviour In Breast Cancer

The invasion and spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body, known as metastasis, is a principal cause of death in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Eventhough patients with early stage, small, breast tumours have an excellent short term prognosis, more than 15 to 20 per cent of them will eventually develop distant metastases, and die from the disease. Vascular invasion - through lymphatic and blood vessels - is the major route for cancer spreading to regional lymph nodes and to the rest of the body.

Dr Stewart Martin, Professor Ian Ellis and their colleagues at The University of Nottingham, and worldwide, are combining many approaches in a dynamic effort to improve our understanding of cell behaviour in breast cancer. Discovering how these cells operate is vital in improving diagnosis and therapy for the cancer patient in the longer term, and in identifying therapeutic targets. Already the results of their work have been excellent - with findings in relation to the spread of cancer through the lymphatic vessels prompting a much larger study funded by Cancer Research UK.

A research student within the Nottingham team, Rabab Mohammed, showed recently that specific factors that regulate the growth of blood and lymphatic vessels can identify a subset of tumours which have a high probability of recurring or spreading......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

June 10, 2008, 10:13 PM CT

Raloxifene reduces risk of invasive estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer

Women who took raloxifene were less likely to develop invasive estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer compared with women who did not, as per data from a randomized controlled trial published online June 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute The drug did not reduce the risk of non-invasive cancer or invasive ER-negative cancers.

A prior analysis of data from the Raloxifene Use for the Heart (RUTH) trial, which enrolled women with coronary heart disease or those at an increased risk for the disease, showed that the drug did not protect against heart disease, which was one of the primary aims of the trial. But after a median follow up of 5.6 years, it did reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer by 44 percent, compared with women not taking the drug. Raloxifene is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), which might suggest that the drug would have a preferential effect on hormone-responsive breast cancers. The drug is approved by the FDA for the prevention and therapy of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and for invasive breast cancer risk reduction in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or at high risk for breast cancer.

To investigate the specific types and stages of breast cancer affected by raloxifene, as well as the timing of its action and the types of patients it can help, Deborah Grady, M.D., of the University of California at San Francisco and his colleagues examined the RUTH trial data in more detail......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 21, 2008, 8:50 PM CT

Deceptive high-risk breast tumors

A unique genetic signature can alert physicians to high-risk breast tumors that are masquerading as low-risk tumors, as per research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. Eventhough these tumors are apparently estrogen-receptor positive meaning they should depend on estrogen to grow they don't respond well to anti-estrogen treatment.

Until now, doctors had no way to know these tumors would be unresponsive because their pathology is deceptive the tumors appear to be more easily treatable estrogen-receptor-positive tumors, but they rapidly lose their estrogen receptors. The scientists demonstrated that the chance for cancer recurrence in such patients is significantly higher, and standard post-operative care with long-term anti-estrogen treatment is often not effective. The genetic signature defined by the scientists will permit doctors to identify their high-risk patients and direct them to more effective treatment.

"These tumors are like wolves in sheep's clothing," says Matthew Ellis, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology and a faculty member at the Siteman Cancer Center. "When these patients come in, their tumors test positive for estrogen receptors, so they are started on anti-estrogen therapy with the thought that they will do fine. But these tumors don't depend on estrogen at all for growth and will keep growing during the treatment. Now we have a robust way to identify such tumors soon after diagnosis"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 15, 2008, 7:22 PM CT

Link between vitamin D status, breast cancer

Using newly available data on worldwide cancer incidence, scientists at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine have shown a clear association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB), and breast cancer.

UVB exposure triggers photosynthesis of vitamin D3 in the body. This form of vitamin D also is available through diet and supplements.

Approximately 1,150,000 cases and 410,000 deaths from breast cancer occur annually worldwide, including 215,000 new cases and 41,000 deaths in the United States.

The study is reported in the May-June 2008 issue of The Breast Journal.

This is the first study, to our knowledge, to show that higher serum levels of vitamin D are linked to reduced incidence rates of breast cancer worldwide, said Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., professor of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine, and member of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center.

This paper used worldwide data only recently available through a new tool called GLOBOCAN, developed by the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer. GLOBOCAN is a database of cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence for 175 countries......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 14, 2008, 9:32 PM CT

Risk For Developing Breast Cancer

A chemical reaction in genes that control breast cancer provides a molecular clock that could one day help scientists more accurately determine a woman's risk for developing breast cancer and provide a new approach for therapy, UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have found.

As per a research findings published in today's issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers from UT Southwestern show that the chemical process, called methylation, is strongly correlated with breast-cancer risk and with premalignant changes in the breast cells.

The scientists determined that methylation acts as a type of biological clock, indicating how a number of times a cell has divided. This information could aid scientists in determining an individual's cancer risk.

"The more a cell has divided, the greater the risk for cancer," said Dr. David Euhus, professor of surgical oncology. "Monitoring methylation levels could give scientists a way of seeing how often cells have divided and where a woman stands on that clock. Once the clock reaches a certain hour, breast cancer is more likely to ensue".

During methylation, small molecules called methyl groups attach themselves to a gene and turn off, or "silence," the gene.

Prior studies by Dr. Euhus have shown that apparently normal breast cells from women with breast cancer had increased methylation of a tumor-suppressor gene called RASSF1A......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 13, 2008, 7:46 PM CT

Adding ultrasound screening to mammography

Adding a screening ultrasound examination to routine mammography reveals more breast cancers than mammography alone, as per results of a major new clinical trial. The trial, however, also observed that adding an ultrasound exam also increases the rate of false positive findings and unnecessary biopsies.

Results of the clinical trial, conducted by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) and analyzed by Brown University statisticians, appear in the May 14, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The trial uncovered a significant trade-off with ultrasound screening, said Jeffrey Blume, an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and the deputy director of the ACRIN Biostatistics and Data Management Center at Brown. While supplemental ultrasound screening uncovers more breast cancers, it also substantially increases the risk of a false positive cancer finding and unnecessary biopsy.

The medical community may well decide that the screening benefit is offset by the increase in risk to women from a false positive finding, Blume said. However this study also shows that supplemental ultrasound may be beneficial in women at high risk of breast cancer who could not, or would not, otherwise undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Women should consult their doctor for more information......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 12, 2008, 9:43 PM CT

Physical activity prevent breast cancer

Physically active women are 25 per cent less likely to get breast cancer, but certain groups are more likely to see these benefits than others, finds a review of research published online ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The type of activity undertaken, at what time in life and the womans body mass index (BMI) will determine how protective the activity is against the disease.

Lean women who play sport or undertake other physically active things in their spare time, particularly if they have been through the menopause, have the lowest risk of breast cancer.

The scientists evaluated the literature and analysed 62 studies looking at the impact of physical activity on breast cancer risk. They then examined the findings to find out how breast cancer risk appeared to be affected by type of activity, intensity of activity, when in life the activity waccording toformed and other factors.

They found the most physically active women were least likely to get breast cancer. All types of activity reduced breast cancer risk but recreational activity reduced the risk more than physical activity undertaken as part of a job or looking after the house. Moderate and vigorous activity had equal benefits.

Women who had undertaken a lot of physical activity throughout their life had the lowest risk of breast cancer, and activity performed after the menopause had a greater effect than that performed earlier in life......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 8, 2008, 8:43 PM CT

Benign Lesions Needs 6-month Mammogram Follow Up

Radiologists can, with confidence, recommend a six-month follow-up diagnostic mammogram rather than an immediate biopsy for patients with probably non-malignant breast lesions, a new study emphasizes.

The study observed that six-month short-interval follow-up examinations had an 83% sensitivity, which is similar to the sensitivity of other diagnostic mammograms, said Erin J. Aiello Bowles, MPH, lead author of the study from the Group Health Center for Health Studies. High sensitivity means identifying a high proportion of true positives (actual cancer cases) and a low proportion of false negatives (cases mistakenly deemed benign).

The study included 45,007 initial short-interval follow-up mammograms. Short-interval follow-up mammograms are done to monitor for changes in probably non-malignant breast lesions (findings seen on mammograms that have a very low probability of being cancer). Because the probability of cancer is so low, we dont want to put the patient through an unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure that increases both patient anxiety and medical costs, said Aiello Bowles. At the same time, we want to closely monitor these patients, because changes in probably non-malignant lesions occasionally mean cancer, and we want to detect the cancers as early as possible, she said. In the study, 360 women with probably non-malignant lesions were diagnosed with breast cancer within six months; and 506 women were diagnosed with cancer within 12 months (altogether about one in 100 of the probably non-malignant lesions), Aiello Bowles said......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 28, 2008, 5:31 PM CT

Predicting breast cancer patient outcome

Not a day goes by without a new story about the environment. Eventhough we often consider the environment on a global scale, cells in our body also have to contend with environmental factors. New studies from a team of scientists from the Research Institute of the MUHC and McGill University show that the environment surrounding breast cancer cells plays a crucial role in determining whether tumor cells grow and migrate or whether they fade away. Their study is the first to identify the genes behind this environmental control and correlate them with patient outcome. Their findings appear in this weeks issue of Nature Medicine.

A tumour can not exist on its own. It has to be supported and nourished by the cell types around it, the microenvironment, says senior author Dr Morag Park, Director of the molecular oncology group at the Research institute if the MUHC. When we began this study there was little known about the importance of this microenvironment on cancer initiation and progression. We now know that this environment is pivotal; different patients have distinct tumour microenvironments at a gene level. Our findings show that the gene profile of these distinct microenvironments can be used to determine clinical outcome who will fare well and who will not.

Dr Park, a professor of oncology, biochemistry, and medicine at McGill University, and her team analyzed tissue from 53 patients with breast cancer. They used a unique technique, laser capture microdissection (LCM), to separate tumour cells from microenvironment tissue. They compared the gene expression between the microenvironment tissue and controls using micro-array analysis. From thousands of genes they identified 163, which correlated with patient outcome. A good outcome was defined as having no tumour metastasis and tumour migration and non-responsiveness to treatment was considered poor outcome......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source