High expression of lymphocyte-associated genes in node-negative HER2+ breast cancers correlates with lower recurrence rates

Cancer Res. 2007 Nov 15;67(22):10669-76. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-0539.

Abstract

Gene expression analysis has identified biologically relevant subclasses of breast cancer. However, most classification schemes do not robustly cluster all HER2+ breast cancers, in part due to limitations and bias of clustering techniques used. In this article, we propose an alternative approach that first separates the HER2+ tumors using a gene amplification signal for Her2/neu amplicon genes and then applies consensus ensemble clustering separately to the HER2+ and HER2- clusters to look for further substructure. We applied this procedure to a microarray data set of 286 early-stage breast cancers treated only with surgery and radiation and identified two basal and four luminal subtypes in the HER2- tumors, as well as two novel and robust HER2+ subtypes. HER2+ subtypes had median distant metastasis-free survival of 99 months [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 83-118 months] and 33 months (95% CI, 11-54 months), respectively, and recurrence rates of 11% and 58%, respectively. The low recurrence subtype had a strong relative overexpression of lymphocyte-associated genes and was also associated with a prominent lymphocytic infiltration on histologic analysis. These data suggest that early-stage HER2+ cancers associated with lymphocytic infiltration are a biologically distinct subtype with an improved natural history.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Humans
  • Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • Multigene Family
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / biosynthesis*
  • Recurrence

Substances

  • RNA, Messenger
  • Receptor, ErbB-2