Stromal‐Epithelial Gene Expression Profiles in Human Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background Stromal-epithelial interactions are thought to play an important role in breast human breast cancer progression and the identification of such changes may provide novel therapeutic strategies. The goal of our research was to generate gene expression profiles of epithelial and stromal cells associated with breast cancer progression and to compare it with that of patient-matched normal breast epithelium and stroma. Design Fifteen cases of human invasive and in situ ductal cancer with equal representation amongst the three tumor grades were selected for this study. Laser capture microdissection, T7-based RNA amplification and oligonucleotide microarray technologies were combined to generate normal and tumor-specific epithelial and stromal gene expression profiles. Results Comparative analysis demonstrated distinct epithelial and stroma gene expression profiles and has revealed a 124-gene signature that distinguishes normal breast stroma from breast cancer associated stroma. Furthermore, we have identified a novel epithelial-stromal gene expression pattern for members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family. Conclusion Our findings are significant in that we have identified novel breast cancer stromal gene expression patterns that should provide breast cancer researchers with new avenues of investigation regarding stromal-epithelial interactions during breast tumorigenesis.