METHODS FOR DIAGNOSING AND MONITORING MALIGNANCIES BY SCREENING GENE COPY NUMBERS

摘要

This invention pertains to the discovery that an amplification of some genes or an increase in that gene activity and a deletion of some genes or a decrease in that gene activity is a marker for the presence of, progression of, or predisposition to, a cancer (e.g., breast cancer). Using this information, this invention provides methods of detecting a predisposition to cancer in an animal. The methods involve (i) providing a biological sample from an animal (e.g. a human patient); (ii) detecting the level of the genes of the present invention within the biological sample; and (iii) comparing the level of one or more of said genes with a level of one or more of said genes in a control sample taken from a normal, cancer-free tissue.