A Cancer Proliferation Gene Signature Supervised by Ki-67 Strata Specific to Luminal A, Estrogen Receptor-Positive, and HER2-Negative Ductal Carcinomas

Main Article Content

Youdinghuan Chen

Abstract

Clinically determined Ki-67 is a well-established marker for assessing proliferation potential in breast and other cancers. However, Ki-67 and the recommended thresholds for clinical decision-making vary systematically across breast cancer subtypes. In this study, an analysis of published gene expression data against Ki-67 in ER+/HER2- and Luminal A ductal carcinomas identified 127 of 14,997 protein-coding genes (elastic-net coefficient ≠ 0). The most upregulated genes associated with high Ki-67 are involved in cancer proliferation and were known in breast cancer studies, while the downregulated genes are involved in diverse signaling transduction processes. Application of the identified gene signature to ER+/HER2- and Luminal A ductal carcinomas consistently stratified two independent, population-based breast cancer cohorts. Although the ER+/HER2- clinical and the Luminal A intrinsic subtypes typically show good prognosis, one subpopulation identified by the signature showed an elevated risk of disease recurrence (hazards ratios 1.59 [95% CI 1.02, 2.47] and 3.80 [95% CI 0.83, 17.27] in two independent application cohorts). The present study identifies a proliferation gene signature specific to ER+/HER2- and Luminal A ductal carcinomas, provides biological insight into the more proliferative cancers, and could be a basis for future therapeutic development.

Keywords: Gene signature, Ki-67, ER /HER2-, Luminal A, invasive ductal carcinoma, survival

Article Details

How to Cite
CHEN, Youdinghuan. A Cancer Proliferation Gene Signature Supervised by Ki-67 Strata Specific to Luminal A, Estrogen Receptor-Positive, and HER2-Negative Ductal Carcinomas. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 10, oct. 2022. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/3160>. Date accessed: 29 mar. 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v10i10.3160.
Section
Research Articles

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