Activation of Host Wound Responses in Breast Cancer Microenvironment

Cancer progression is mediated by processes that are also important in wound repair. As a result, cancers have been conceptualized as overhealing wounds or "wounds that do not heal," and gene expression signatures reflective of wound repair have shown value as predictors of breast cancer survival. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of commonalities between host responses to wounds and host responses to cancer, the gene expression responses of normal tissue adjacent to cancers have not been well characterized. Using RNA extracted from histologically normal breast tissue from 105 patients, 121 arrays were performed, including 72 arrays representing 58 reduction mammoplasty patients and 49 arrays representing 47 cancer patients, we measured whole genome expression profiles and identified a gene expression signature that is induced in response to breast cancer.