What Defines a Useful Marker of Metastasis in Human Cancer?

Abstract

In this issue of the Journal, O'Connell et al. ( 1 ) describe the identification of a region on the long arm of chromosome 14 that is apparently involved in the progression of breast cancer toward metastasis. Measuring loss of heterozygosity, the investigators found that the majority of lymph node-negative breast tumors did not amplify a region linked to D14S62 and D14S51, while lymph node-positive breast tumors retained heterozygosity for these same markers. These data could imply the existence of a metastasis-promoting gene. Alternatively, the observed molecular changes may be a marker of metastatic propensity.