Gene set enrichment analysis of basal and in vitro irradiation differentiates breast cancer patients with late skin radiotherapy toxicity. Gene set enrichment analysis of basal and in vitro irradiation differentiates breast cancer patients with late skin radiotherapy toxicity

Radiation-induced late effects remain a common cause of morbidity amongst cancer survivors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular basis underlying the radiotherapy-induced late skin toxicity in breast cancer patients who were previously assessed for radiation-induced lymphocyte apoptosis (RILA). Overall design: Peripheral blood mononuclear blood cells of 10 patients with severe skin late complications from radiotherapy and 10 patients without symptoms were mock-irradiated or irradiated with 8-Gy X-rays. The 48-h radiation response was analysed by gene expression profiling with Affymetrix microarrays Human Exon 1.0 ST array.Gene set enrichment analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed biological processes.