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The Molecular Basis of Breast Cancer Subtypes

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The Pathobiology of Breast Cancer
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Abstract

The name of “breast cancer” is the general term for carcinomas of the breast tissue. While this seems fairly concise, breast cancer extends to a diverse group of maladies. The reason is that breast carcinomas are heterogeneous and vary greatly in physical appearance, or their phenotype, on both a macroscopic and molecular scale (see Chap. 3). This phenotypic diversity corresponds to diversity in gene expression producing classifications for breast cancer that more accurately predict tumor behavior. The rationale for a genomic classification are basically two; one is that knowing the gene expression profile of a tumor lead us to understand cancer behavior and second rat the clinical level can help us to identify genes that are associated with specific cancer phenotype. Knowing the genomic signature of a given breast cancer provides the molecular pathways that can help better targeting of available therapy.

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Russo, J. (2016). The Molecular Basis of Breast Cancer Subtypes. In: The Pathobiology of Breast Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40815-6_5

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