14-Gene Signature for Breast Cancer Prognosis
Author Information
Author(s): Andrew Tutt, Alice Wang, Charles Rowland, Cheryl Gillett, Kit Lau, Karen Chew, Hongyue Dai, Shirley Kwok, Kenneth Ryder, Henry Shu, Robert Springall, Paul Cane, Blair McCallie, Lauren Kam-Morgan, Steve Anderson, Horst Buerger, Joe Gray, James Bennington, Laura Esserman, Trevor Hastie, Samuel Broder, John Sninsky, Burkhard Brandt, Fred Waldman
Primary Institution: King's College, London, UK
Hypothesis
The study aims to discover and validate a breast cancer prognostic expression signature for distant metastasis in untreated, early stage, lymph node-negative estrogen receptor-positive patients.
Conclusion
The 14-gene signature is significantly associated with the risk of distant metastasis and may aid in prioritizing future mechanistic studies and therapeutic interventions.
Supporting Evidence
- A 14-gene signature was found to be significantly associated with distant metastasis in a training set.
- The hazard ratios for high risk compared to low risk groups were 4.02 for distant metastasis-free survival.
- The low and high metastasis score risk groups had 10-year estimates of 96% and 72% for distant metastasis-free survival, respectively.
- The signature has a predominance of proliferation genes which have prognostic significance above that of Ki-67 labeling index.
Takeaway
Researchers found a special group of 14 genes that can help predict if breast cancer will spread to other parts of the body, which can help doctors decide on treatments.
Methodology
The study profiled 197 genes from 142 untreated breast cancer subjects and developed a 'metastasis score' based on 14 differentially expressed genes.
Potential Biases
The retrospective nature of the study design may introduce selection bias.
Limitations
The study's cohort may not represent current ER+ breast cancer patients due to the absence of systemic treatment options at the time of sample collection.
Participant Demographics
The study included untreated, early stage, lymph node-negative, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p < 0.05
Confidence Interval
95% CI 1.91–8.44
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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