[Prognostic classification of breast cancer and gene expression profiling]

Clinical and pathological heterogeneity of breast cancer, partly responsible of therapeutic failures, reflects complex and combinatory molecular alterations until now poorly documented by classical investigation tools. Thorough molecular typing is crucial. The advent of DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling allowed consistent progresses in this direction. A novel molecular taxonomy of breast cancer has been defined, signatures that predict clinical outcome or therapeutic response have been identified, some of them being tested in ongoing prospective clinical trials. In this review, we present the main results and their potential clinical applications. We also discuss their current limits and future hopes in the therapeutic management of patients.