Progression of ductal carcinoma in situ to invasive breast cancer

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a precursor lesion that can give rise to invasive breast cancer (IBC). It has been proposed that both the nature of the lesion and the tumor microenvironment play key roles in progression to IBC. Here, laser capture microdissected tissue samples from epithelium and stroma in normal breast, pure DCIS, and pure IBC were employed to define key gene expression profiles associated with disease progression. Tumor and matching stroma were profiled for 9 DCIS patients, 10 IBC patients, and 3 normal breast. Differential gene expression was evaluated for paired normal stroma versus normal epitelium samples, paired DCIS stroma versus DCIS epitelium samples, paired IBC stroma versus IBC epitelium, IBC stroma versus DCIS stroma, and IBC epithelium versus DCIS epithelium.