Breast cancer molecular subtypes preferentially metastasize to specific organs and the anatomical location of the metastasis is associated with the length of survival post-recurrence. We used microarrays to provide a detailed characterization of breast cancer site-specific metastases with particular focus on identifying genes predictive of breast cancer liver metastatic proprnsity
Overall design
We performed global gene expression profiling on fine-needle aspirates of metastatic lesions from different anatomical sites obtained from breast cancer patients treated within the Swedish randomized trial (TEX) of first-line chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Samples were collected before commencement of treatment.