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ESR1 gene amplification in breast cancer: a common phenomenon?

Nature Genetics volume 40, pages 807–808 (2008)Cite this article

To the Editor:

Holst et al.1 investigated the clinical relevance of ESR1 (estrogen receptor alpha) gene amplification in human breast cancer and reported that the ESR1 gene is amplified in 21% of breast carcinomas. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on tissue microarrays with ESR1 BAC RP11-450E24 as a probe, they identified amplification (ESR1 to centromere 6 ratio >2) in 358 out of 1,739 cases (20.6%) and gain (ESR1 to centromere 6 ratio >1 but <2) in an additional 266 (15.3%) tumors. In view of published array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) studies as well as our own unpublished aCGH data, we are surprised by this high frequency of ESR1 gene amplification and gain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Divison of Experimental Therapy, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Hugo M Horlings & Simon A Joosse

  2. Department of Genetics, Institute for Cancer Research Norwegian Radium Hospital, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Montebello, 0310, Oslo, Norway

    Anna Bergamaschi, Silje H Nordgard, Vessela N Kristensen & Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale

  3. Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Anna Bergamaschi, Young H Kim, Keyan Salari & Jonathan Pollack

  4. Faculty Division The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Silje H Nordgard & Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale

  5. Cancer Research Institute and Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 110-744, Seoul, Korea

    Wonshik Han & Dong-Young Noh

  6. Department of Surgery, Institut Curie, 75005, Paris, France

    Fabien Reyal

  7. University of Oslo, 1080 – Blindern, N-0317, Oslo, Norway

    Ole Christian Lingjaerde

  8. Faculty Division Ahus, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Vessela N Kristensen

  9. Division of Diagnostic Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marc J van de Vijver

  10. Department of Pathology, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marc J van de Vijver

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  1. Hugo M Horlings
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  2. Anna Bergamaschi
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  8. Simon A Joosse
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  9. Fabien Reyal
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  11. Vessela N Kristensen
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  12. Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale
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  14. Marc J van de Vijver
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc J van de Vijver.

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Horlings, H., Bergamaschi, A., Nordgard, S. et al. ESR1 gene amplification in breast cancer: a common phenomenon?. Nat Genet 40, 807–808 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0708-807

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0708-807

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