Stromal gene changes linked to breast cancer characteristics
16 May 2007
J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;
297: 2103–2111
MedWire News: Scientists believe that genomic changes in the tissue surrounding a breast tumor may contribute to tumor diversity.
The researchers identified seven genetic markers in stromal tissue that correlate with tumor grade or regional lymph node metastasis. In contrast, they only linked two markers in the stromal epithelium to the tumors’ clinical features.
The team writes in the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute: “That genomic alterations occur in both the epithelium and stroma of sporadic breast cancers has been documented by several groups.
“However, whether these microenvironmental alterations relate to clinicopathologic features is unknown.”
To investigate, Charis Eng (Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine Institute, Ohio, USA) and co-workers analyzed DNA from the epithelium and stroma of 220 primary sporadic invasive breast cancers for genomic alterations.
Eight significant associations were found between allelic imbalances in the stroma and the patients’ clinicopathogical features.
An allelic imbalance on chromosome 11 in the stroma was linked to tumor grade, and imbalances on chromosomes 1, 2, 5, 18, 20, and 22 were linked to regional lymph node metastasis.
Two markers on chromosome 14 of the patients’ epithelial tissue were linked to the progesterone receptor status of their tumor, but no other epithelial markers were linked to the tumors’ clinicopathologic features.
“There were more correlations between clinicopathological features and the loss of heterozygosity/allelic imbalance in the stroma than in the epithelium, suggesting that stromal genomic alterations may help account for clinical diversity,” the researchers write.
“Future research is necessary to validate these results and investigate their significance for prognosis and outcome,” they conclude.
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