Onkológia 4/2008

SIGNIFICANCE OF GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING FOR PREDICTION OF PROGNOSIS AND THERAPY RESPONSE IN BREAST CARCINOMA

Determination of prognostic and predictive factors represents an important part of breast carcinoma (BC) diagnostic and therapeutic management. Because both traditional morphological (tumor size, carcinoma type, histological grade, lymph node status) and biological parameters (analysis of hormone receptors and HER2) do not always lead to the exact prediction of prognosis and/or therapeutical response, new approaches are researched to allow a more precise patient’s stratification. BC represents a heterogeneous oncological disease and its clinical and morphological variability is based on genetic and epigenetic changes. That is the reason why the BC gene expression analysis seems to be very promising. In the review, some gene expression profiles are presented and discussed to understand better the biological behavior of the breast carcinoma, as well as prediction of its prognosis and response to therapeutical modalities. In conclusion, some opinions, perspectives, limits and possibilities of practical utilization of these multiparametric methods are discussed.

Keywords: breast, carcinoma, immunohistochemistry, gene expression, prognosis