Genomic Health Study Shows Breast Cancers in Men Display Very Similar Gene Signatures to Thos...( - Largest Genomic Study Comparing Gen...),Health

- Largest Genomic Study Comparing Gene Expression in Female and Male Patients Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting -

ORLANDO, Fla., May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genomic Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GHDX) today announced results from a study which summarized the gene signatures identified by the Oncotype DX(R) breast cancer test in a large number of male patients for whom the test was used to guide treatment with chemotherapy. The results, which will be presented in a poster presentation on Monday, June 1 (1:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET) at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Orlando, demonstrated that breast cancer in men displays similar gene signatures to female breast cancer.

"Breast cancer is not just a woman's disease, yet treatment for men is typically extrapolated from our experience in the female population since it is rare and there is little known about the biology of male breast cancer," said George Sledge, M.D., Ballve-Lantero Professor of Oncology at Indiana University in Indianapolis, and lead investigator of the study. "This is the largest genomic study to compare gene expression in female and male patients, and results support the clinical utility of Oncotype DX in providing quantitative information to help guide treatment decisions for men with breast cancer."

The study, "Molecular characterization of male breast cancer by standardized quantitative RT-PCR analysis: First large genomic study of 347 male breast cancers compared to 82,434 female breast cancers" (Abstract #549), analyzed quantitative gene expression by gender status in estrogen receptor (ER) positive tumor specimens. As with female breast cancer, a wide inter-patients variation was observed in gene expression in male breast cancer. The proportion of tumors with low risk of recurrence based on the R
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