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Nature Genetics 40, 806–807 (1 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/ng0708-806

ESR1 gene amplification in breast cancer: a common phenomenon?

Lindsay A Brown , Jeremy Hoog , Suet-Feung Chin , Yu Tao , Abd Alnaser Zayed , Koei Chin , Andrew E Teschendorff , John F Quackenbush , John C Marioni , Samuel Leung , Charles M Perou , Torsten O Neilsen , Matthew Ellis , Joe W Gray , Philip S Bernard , David G Huntsman & Carlos Caldas

To the Editor: Using fluorescence in situ hybridization on tissue microarrays (FISH-TMA), Holst et al. recently reported amplification of ESR1, the gene encoding estrogen receptor alpha, in 21% (358 of 1,739) of breast cancers. This prompted us to analyze ESR1 copy number using either FISH-TMA or array CGH (aCGH) in a combined series of 725 breast cancers (see Supplementary Methods online for details of series and methodology).