Genomic analyses of neuroendocrine neoplasms of the breast

Breast neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) constitute a rare histologic subtype, including neuroendocrine tumor (NET) and neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC). The definition of NEN was harmonized with the NEN tumor of other systems in the latest WHO classification. In this study, we aimed to gain insight into the molecular characteristics of neuroendocrine neoplasms of the breast. With a total of 17 NENs enrolled, the NENs with paired normal fresh tissues and the clinicopathological data of all cases were collected. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on NEN and paired normal tissues. In conclusion, this study provided certain molecular evidence for NEN as an independent subtype of breast cancer and gave a molecular basis for the identification between NET and NEC.