Genome-wide expression profiling from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast cancer core biopsies

The routine workflow for invasive cancer diagnostics is based on biopsy processing by formalin fixation and subsequent paraffin embedding. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples are easy to handle, stable and particularly suitable for morphologic evaluation, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. However, it has become a paradigm that these samples cannot be used for genome-wide expression analysis with microarrays. To oppose this view, we present a pilot microarray study using FFPE core needle biopsies from breast cancers as RNA source. We found that microarray probes interrogating sequences near the poly-A-tail of the transcribed genes were well suitable to measure RNA levels in FFPE core needle biopsies. For the ER and the HER2 gene, we observed strong correlations between RNA levels measured in these probe sets and protein expression determined by immunohistochemistry (p = 0.000003 and p = 0.0022). Further, we have identified a signature of 364 genes that correlated with ER protein status and a signature of 528 genes that correlated with HER2 protein status. Many of these genes (ER: 60%) could be confirmed by analysis of an independent publicly available data set. Finally, a hierarchical clustering of the biopsies with respect to three recently reported gene expression grade signatures resulted in widely stable low and high expression grade clusters that correlated with the pathological tumor grade. These findings support the notion that clinically relevant information can be gained from microarray based gene expression profiling of FFPE cancer biopsies. This opens new opportunities for the integration of gene expression analysis into the workflow of invasive cancer diagnostics as well as translational research in the setting of clinical studies.

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Budczies J, Weichert W, Noske A, Müller BM, Weller C, Wittenberger T, Hofmann HP, Dietel M, Denkert C, Gekeler V