Cell Cycle Profiling
in Breast Cancer Management
Breast cancer is a leading cause of women’s mortality among the solid tumours. BRCA1, BRCA2, PTEN, and ï½53 were identified as a risk factor in familial breast cancer patients, and risk analysis tests with those parameters are currently available. However, clinically applicable prognosis factors for non-familial breast cancer have not yet been defined. Therefore, the introduction of prognosis recurrence prediction tests for breast cancer are in high demand and would greatly contribute to the improvement of both prognosis and quality of life for breast cancer patients.
The lines of evidence strongly indicate that the growth aggressiveness of tumour tissue is a key clinical determinant in the malignancy of cancer. The evidence above was obtained by several methodologies, such as DNA analysis, ³H-thymidine/BrdU uptake, mitotic index, and Ki-67/PCNA immunostaining. However, the performance of these methods was not satisfactory to the clinical requirements for prognosis prediction in cancer patients.
In early breast cancer systemic adjuvant therapy significantly reduces the risk of recurrence and death regardless of nodal status. However the fact that approximately two-thirds of node-negative patients survive without recurrence even without adjuvant therapy indicates that adjuvant therapy has been administered to many patients who actually did not need it. To avoid unnecessary treatments new and more powerful prognostic indicators are needed.
