Gene-Expression Signatures in Breast Cancer

The study by van de Vijver et al. is of considerable interest with respect the biology of breast cancer. However, from point of view of the individual patient and her , the sensitivity and specificity of prognostic are more important than odds ratios. is possible to calculate these factors in part from results. For example, for "all new patients in the series" (180 patients, listed in Table 2 the article), the sensitivity and specificity of the prognostic signature are 0.93 (95 percent confidence , 0.81 to 0.98) and 0.53 (95 percent interval, 0.45 to 0.61), respectively. If hypothetical treatment were administered on this , nearly two thirds of the patients with a poor signature (65 of 104 patients) would be . Thus, the reported genetic signatures not seem to be much sharper weapons for daily than other, easier-to-obtain prognostic indicators.