Gene Expression Profiling in Hereditary, BRCA1-linked Breast Cancer: Preliminary Report

Global analysis of gene expression by DNA microarrays is nowadays a widely used tool, especially relevant for cancer research. It helps the understanding of complex biology of cancer tissue, allows identification of novel molecular markers, reveals previously unknown molecular subtypes of cancer that differ by clinical features like drug susceptibility or general prognosis. Our aim was to compare gene expression profiles in breast cancer that develop against a background of inherited predisposing mutations versus sporadic breast cancer. In this preliminary study we analysed seven hereditary, BRCA1 mutation-linked breast cancer tissues and seven sporadic cases that were carefully matched by histopathology and ER status. Additionally, we analysed 6 samples of normal breast tissue. We found that while the difference in gene expression profiles between tumour tissue and normal breast can be easily recognized by unsupervised algorithms, the difference between those two types of tumours is more discrete. However, by supervised methods of data analysis, we were able to select a set of genes that may differentiate between hereditary and sporadic tumours. The most significant difference concerns genes that code for proteins engaged in regulation of transcription, cellular metabolism, signalling, proliferation and cell death. Microarray results for chosen genes (TOB1, SEPHS2) were validated by real-time RT-PCR.