This refinement of the association between FGFR2 variants and ER-status to HER2-negative disease provides novel insight to potential biological and clinical influence of genetic polymorphisms on breast tumors.
Moreover, the increased risk conferred by the minor FGFR2 allele associates most strongly in oestrogen receptor alpha positive (ERα) breast tumours, suggesting a potential interaction between ERα and FGFR signalling.
In a population-based case-control study of 1,170 breast cancer cases and 2,115 controls, we examined genetic associations of four intronic FGFR2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and breast tumor characteristics and assessed the potential interactions with smoking, alcohol consumption, adiposity and known breast cancer risk factors.
Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts activate progesterone receptors and induce hormone independent mammary tumor growth: A role for the FGF-2/FGFR-2 axis.
In conclusion, three consecutive microarray (CGH, cDNA and tissue) experiments revealed high-level amplification and overexpression of the FGFR2 in a breast cancer cell line, but only a low frequency of involvement in primary breast tumors.
For two of these regions, 8p12 and 10q26, we previously reported the amplification of genes encoding FGF receptors, FGFRI/FLG and FGFR2/BEK, in about 12% of breast tumors.