Young Age at Diagnosis Correlates With Worse Prognosis and Defines a Subset of Breast Cancers With Shared Patterns of Gene Expression

PURPOSE: Breast cancer arising in young women is correlated with inferior survival and higher incidence of negative clinicopathologic features. The biology driving this aggressive disease has yet to be defined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinically annotated, microarray data from 784 early-stage breast cancers were identified, and prospectively defined, age-specific cohorts (young: /= 65 years, n = 211) were compared by prognosis, clinicopathologic variables, mRNA expression values, single-gene analysis, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS: Using clinicopathologic variables, young women illustrated lower estrogen receptor (ER) positivity…

• AS
  American Society of Clinical Oncology
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NC
  National Cancer Institute