Normal human mammary tissues from BRCA1 mutation carriers, non-BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and normal women

Gene expression profiles of normal human mammary tissue from BRCA1 mutation carriers, non-BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and normal women. RNA was prepared from normal breast tissue (confirmed by pathology) from reduction mammoplasties (n=5) and prophylactic mastectomies of known BRCA1 (n=7) and non-BRCA1/2 mutation carriers (n=8). non-BRCA1/2 carriers were individuals with a strong family history of breast cancer (kConFab Category 1 (http://www.kconfab.org/Collection/Eligibility.shtml) where no mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 has been identified in the family by high sensitivity testing (http://www.kconfab.org/Progress/Sensitivity.shtml) of any individual affected by breast or ovarian cancer. Normal breast samples refer to reduction mammoplasty specimens, where family history is generally not known. Microarray expression profiles were obtained from whole pre-neoplastic breast tissue from three categories of patient, as described in the summary. Samples were checked for keratin gene expression levels as a marker for epithelium tissue, and a number of samples were removed because two or more keratin genes lacked detectable expression (BeadStudio detection p-value 0.01). One other sample was removed because its expression profile appeared abnormal. Out of 36 samples initially profiled, 20 passed the quality filters and were used for the final analysis.