"New" molecular taxonomy in breast cancer

Advances in the analysis of expression profiles, using genomic techniques, have revealed the high heterogeneity present in breast cancers. These approaches have served to identify different breast cancer subgroups with specific molecular characteristics that could sub-classify these tumours as carcinomas expressing hormone receptors, denominated Luminal subtype, and tumours with negative expression of hormone receptors, the Basal and HER2+ phenotypes. Therefore, during recent years, identification of markers characteristic of each subtype has been the focus of many research groups. All of these breast tumour subtypes probably have specific clinical and morphological features; however, this hypothesis needs to be confirmed by analysing more homogenous series. Although this "new" classification has limitations, it could be useful in the clinical practice, allowing not only a more accurate prognosis in breast cancer patients but also a selective treatment for each predefined subtype.