Breast Cancer: A Molecularly Heterogenous Disease Needing Subtype-Specific Treatments.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women. There were over two-million new cases in world in 2018. It is the second leading cause of death from cancer in western countries. At the molecular level, breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, which is characterized by high genomic instability evidenced by somatic gene mutations, copy number alterations, and chromosome structural rearrangements. The genomic instability is caused by defects in DNA damage repair, transcription, DNA replication, telomere maintenance and mitotic chromosome segregation. According to molecular features, breast cancers are subdivided in subtypes, according to activation of hormone receptors (estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor), of human epidermal growth factors receptor 2 (HER2), and or BRC

SUBMITTER: Testa U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7151639 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature