Patient Data

We used data generated from TMAs constructed using archival tumor material from patients in the Study of Epidemiology and Risk factors in Cancer Heredity (SEARCH) breast cancer study, a population-based study of breast cancer. Women diagnosed since 1996 with invasive breast cancer before age 70 in the region served by the National Cancer Registration Service Eastern Office (formerly Eastern Cancer Registration and Information Centre) were eligible to participate. To date, over 13,000 women with breast cancer have enrolled in SEARCH. Information on tumor size, node status, and grade was available from the medical records. In addition, vital status, cause of death, and follow-up time data were available from ECRIC. Archival pathology material from 4125 of these patients has been retrieved from multiple hospital pathology departments across the region for TMA construction. SEARCH has ethical approval from the Multicentre Research Ethics Committee and all the participants have provided informed written consent for their pathology material to be used.