Robustness, scalability, and integration of a wound-response gene expression signature in predicting breast cancer survival

Based on the hypothesis that features of the molecular program of normal wound healing might play an important role in cancer metastasis, we previously identified consistent features in the transcriptional response of normal fibroblasts to serum, and used this “wound-response signature” to reveal links between wound healing and cancer progression in a variety of common epithelial tumors. Here, in a consecutive series of 295 early breast cancer patients, we show that both overall survival and distant metastasis-free survival are markedly diminished in patients whose tumors expressed this wound-response signature compared to tumors that did not express this signature. A gene expression centroid of the…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: CA85129