CLASSICAL GENE AMPLIFICATIONS IN HUMAN BREAST-CANCER ARE NOT ASSOCIATED WITH DISTANT SOLID METASTASES

To determine the relationship between breast cancer progression and ge ne amplification, we screened 62 distant metastases and 122 primary br east tumours for the amplification of the proto-oncogenes MYC and ERBB 2 and the 11q13 chromosomal region. Surprisingly solid metastases show ed an absence of gene amplification. These results suggest that the am plification of the proto-oncogenes MYC and ERBB2 and the 11q13 chromos omal region seem to be involved mainly in the genesis of the primary b reast tumour rather than its progression.