Genomic characterization of breast cancer in high risk subsets of breast cancer

Division Of Basic Sciences - Nci

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Abstract

Women under the age of 40 account for approximately 5% percent of breast cancer patients but numerous studies have shown that they have a worse prognosis and poorer outcome than women diagnosed at older ages. Breast tumors from young women are often ER-negative, from African-American patients and have other indicators of high risk: yet, multivariate analyses demonstrated that young age, in and of itself, is an independent predictor of poor outcome. At least partially due to the unique nature of the patient population served by DOD, a disproportionate number of breast cancer cases in young women are seen at WRNMMC. Thus CBCP has enrolled a good number of invasive breast cancer patients under 40 making it possible for us to propose this study. The CBCP Tissue Bank hosted at the Windber Research Institute has 40 tumors in OCT with germ line DNA available from blood clots for these sample. Thus there are sufficient numbers to get meaningful data. The tumors from young patients will be directly compared to those in the biobank from older women using the same platforms. The tumors will undergo whole exome sequencing, RNAseq, and proteomic analysis. These analyses will allow us to determine the spectrum of mutations seen in tumors from young women. All of these samples are clinically annotated into groups based on the clinical classification of the tumors (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2+, and triple negative). For patients enrolled from the WRNMMC, most of the cases have outcome data and more outcome data is being collected. These analyses will be compared to the publicly available databases for breast cancer (e.g. TCGA) in order to validate differences between the younger and older cohort in our data. Despite the poor prognosis of young women with breast cancer, little research and no clinical specific clinical trials are available. This project and its further development could represent a major advance in the field.