Send to printer »  GEN News Highlights : May 11, 2012
Expression Profiles Accurately Predict Breast Cancer Response to
Chemotherapy  Transcription indices based on TOP2A and β-tubulin
identify patients responding to anthracycline and taxane
therapies.  Scientists report on the identification of two gene-
expression profiles that can predict how well breast tumors
respond to specific types of chemotherapy, independent of
standard variables such as age, tumor grade, and estrogen
receptor status. The signatures are based on expression of
either the DNA topoisomerase TOP2A, or β-tubulin, which are the
targets of anthracycline and taxane drugs, respectively.
Notably, the indices reported by the McMaster University and
Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Center researchers were found to
be drug-specific; the TOP2A index couldn’t predict response to
docetaxel therapy, for example. And unlike other expression
profiles the TOP2A and β-tubulin signatures don’t just represent
measures of cell proliferation, and are more acc