Multiple research projects – including a 2006 study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – have used DNA microarray analysis to identify several breast cancer subtypes, including luminal A, luminal B, basal-like and HER2-enriched. Simple tests are being developed to help doctors identify these subtypes and to treat their patients in a more biologically-based way. In turn, these tests have made several studies possible that indicate that basal-like, or triple negative breast cancer, is more prevalent in African Americans than their Caucasian counterparts.
Multiple research projects – including a 2006 study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – have used DNA microarray analysis to identify several breast cancer subtypes, including luminal A, luminal B, basal-like and HER2-enriched. Simple tests are being developed to help doctors identify these subtypes and to treat their patients in a more biologically-based way. In turn, these tests have made several studies possible that indicate that basal-like, or triple negative breast cancer, is more prevalent in African Americans than their Caucasian counterparts.
A new study led by UNC Lineberger scientist Charles Perou, PhD, and Sean Egan, PhD, from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, demonstrates that deletion of a sugar transferase called LFNG (nicknamed “lunatic fringe”), promotes cell proliferation and tumor formation of basal-like breast cancers.