Molecular pathology of breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women, with an estimated 250,000 new cases in 2011 in the US alone, and 1.5 million worldwide. It is one of the first major diseases where basic laboratory research has had a large impact on the routine clinical management of patients, ranging from detection, to diagnosis, to therapy. Molecular approaches to pathology, in particular, have had an enormous influence, especially in the areas of diagnosis and therapeutic decision-making. The topic of molecular pathology in breast cancer is very large and evolving far too rapidly to cover completely in a chapter of this nature. This chapter will primarily focus on reviewing aspects that are already in routine clinical use, some of the more promising applications on the near horizon, and scientific questions that are currently at the forefront of translational research. From an etiological point of view, the molecular pathology of breast cancer is the result of molecular abnormalities occurring in important normal processes, including the gross, microscopic, and molecular anatomy of the breast, breast development, and adult physiology-which is where we begin.