Paradoxical relationship between chromosomal instability and survival outcome in cancer.

ABSTRACT: Chromosomal instability (CIN) is associated with poor prognosis in human cancer. However, in certain animal tumor models elevated CIN negatively impacts upon organism fitness, and is poorly tolerated by cancer cells. To better understand this seemingly contradictory relationship between CIN and cancer cell biological fitness and its relationship with clinical outcome, we applied the CIN70 expression signature, which correlates with DNA-based measures of structural chromosomal complexity and numerical CIN in vivo, to gene expression profiles of 2,125 breast tumors from 13 published cohorts. Tumors with extreme CIN, defined as the highest quartile CIN70 score, were predominantly of the estrogen receptor negative (ER(-)), basal-like phenotype and displayed the highest chromosomal structural c

SUBMITTER: Birkbak NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3096721 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature