Lost in translation? A systematic database of gene expression in breast cancer

Ten years of translational research in breast cancer (BC) using high-throughput technologies such as cDNA arrays have produced an impressive amount of results. However, it is difficult for a single researcher to overview these results, since no critical synthesis is provided in the literature. This is a meta-analysis of gene expression in BC. Thirteen translational studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, involving 553 BC patients and 79 controls. Large cohorts of patients and well-defined samples were rare. A total of 1,350 genes were reported at least once to be deregulated in BC. Out of these findings, 1,212 (90%) were not confirmed by other authors. A cohort of 138 genes of particular interest remained for further analysis. Of these, 79 were consistently reported to be overexpressed in BC, 41 to be underexpressed and in 18 cases results were contradictory. The most frequently reported deregulated genes in BC include: GATA binding protein 3, arylamine N-acetyltransferase, Myb-related protein B and zinc transporter SLC39A6 precursor (overexpressed); cadherin-3 precursor, keratin type I cytoskeletal 17 and type II cytoskeletal 5 (underexpressed). These genes obviously correlate with the presence and/or development of BC. More efforts should be devoted to the establishment of common standards in translational BC research.