Scientist Use Statistical Gene Profiling To Predict Clinical Status.(classifying breast cancers )

2001 OCT 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

Researchers at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, have developed a new statistical approach to classifying breast cancers based on profiles of their gene expression.

Their analysis of the activity of genes in breast tumor samples, as revealed by a laboratory tool known as a "DNA microarray," demonstrated that researchers could discriminate the tumors' status regarding two clinically important factors - estrogen receptor status and lymph node status.

Tumors whose cells show the presence of estrogen receptors are more likely to spread aggressively, as they respond to growth-inducing estrogen and progesterone. Also, the ability to predict whether breast tumors either have spread to lymph nodes, or have the potential to do so, constitutes the single most important risk factor in the metastasis of the cancer, the scientists noted.

The scientists' report on the success of their statistical models in predicting tumor characteristics is reported in the September 25, 2001, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The study is posted on the PNAS website www.pnas.org.

While the findings are preliminary and the approach new, Joseph Nevins, the study's senior author, said he and his colleagues believe the technique eventually will lead to new diagnostic tests that can predict the status of tumors with considerable precision, enabling improved diagnosis and treatment.

Nevins is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke Medical Center and interim director of the Center for Genome Technology. The center is one of five research centers that are part of the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (IGSP).