Understanding how early breast tumors become deadly

Researchers have discovered a restricted pattern of molecules that differentiate early-stage breast tumors from invasive, life-threatening cancer. They also found a similar molecular signature that correlated with the aggressiveness of invasive tumors, and with the time to metastasis and overall survival. Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) who led the study say the findings could offer new strategies for treating breast cancer by blocking progression to life-threatening invasive cancer. The study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared the pattern of molecules called microRNAs in ductal carcinoma in situ to the pattern present in invasive ductal cancer. It identified nine microRNAs that distinguished invasive cancer from DCIS.