A team of scientists with The Cancer Genome Atlas program have
genetically mapped 800 breast tumors, and have categorized them
into four subtypes. The work, which was published September 23,
2012, in the journal Nature fundamentally reshapes the way
scientists understand breast cancer and paves the way for
personalized treatment of the disease. Charles Perou, Ph.D., a
professor of molecular oncology and a member of UNC Lineberger
Comprehensive Cancer Center who led the study, said the research
was a near complete framework for the genetic causes of breast
cancer, which will significantly impact clinical medicine in the
coming years. “Through the use of multiple different
technologies, we were able to collect the most complete picture
of breast cancer diversity ever,” said Perou. “These studies
have important implications for all breast cancer patients and
confirm a large number of our previous findings. In particular,
we now have a much better picture of the genetic causes of the
most common form of breast ca