Multiparameter analyses of cell cycle regulatory proteins in human breast cancer: A key to definition of separate pathways in tumorigenesis

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer forms affecting many women. The disease nevertheless has widely varying behavior and therefore patient outcome, and an important undertaking is to define and understand the molecular mechanisms behind these actions. Defects in the G1/S transition in the cell cycle affect both tumor proliferation and the fidelity of check points responsible for chromosomal integrity and DNA damage response and has lately been shown to represent one of a rather limited set of key aberrations in the transformation process. Many cell cycle regulatory proteins are either oncogenes or suppressor genes or are closely associated to the transformation process. The types of aberrations in the G1/S transition seem to be different in various cancers but are nevertheless often linked to clinical behaviors. In this review the role of multiparameter analyses of cell cycle regulatory proteins in breast cancer will be outlined with special attention to pattern analyses as well as the definition of two contrasting pathways in tumorigenesis defined by either cyclin D1 or cyclin E overexpression, © 2002 Academic Press.