Anita Langerød has defended her doctoral thesis, on the subject "molecular profiling of breast cancer".
Anita Langerød from Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale's group at the Department of Genetics has defended her thesis, entitled "Molecular Profiling of Breast Cancer. From Single Gene Variants to Whole Genome Expression Patterns". The disputation took place on May 26th in the Auditorium at the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo.
The thesis focuses on identifying molecular genetic changes relevant for the development of breast cancer. TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer, and this gene has a central role also in breast cancer. Both congenital variants and somatic TP53 mutations in the tumour tissue was studied. The mutational status of TP53 was shown to be a strong prognostic marker for breast cancer, and various types of mutations had different effects on the outcome of the disease.
The microarray technology, which allows the simultaneous analysis of thousand of genes, was used to uncover the different gene expression profiles of the two main histological types of breast cancer. The sub-classification of breast tumours based on gene expression profiles were further explored, and shown to be a powerful prognostic marker of breast cancer.
The thesis focuses on identifying molecular genetic changes relevant for the development of breast cancer. TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer, and this gene has a central role also in breast cancer. Both congenital variants and somatic TP53 mutations in the tumour tissue was studied. The mutational status of TP53 was shown to be a strong prognostic marker for breast cancer, and various types of mutations had different effects on the outcome of the disease.
The microarray technology, which allows the simultaneous analysis of thousand of genes, was used to uncover the different gene expression profiles of the two main histological types of breast cancer. The sub-classification of breast tumours based on gene expression profiles were further explored, and shown to be a powerful prognostic marker of breast cancer.