Patent ID: 7455964

Claim:
A method of detecting in a sample the presence of breast cancer, the method comprising: contacting a nucleic acid sample from breast tissue cells of a human patient with a probe which specifically hybridizes under stringent conditions to a target polynucleotide sequence consisting of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:9, or the complete complement thereof, wherein said stringent conditions include washing with 0.2×SSC at 65° C. for 15 minutes, wherein the probe is contacted with the sample under conditions in which the probe hybridizes selectively with the target polynucleotide sequence to form a stable hybridization complex; and detecting the formation of the hybridization complex, and an elevated copy number of ZABC1 (SEQ ID NO:9) greater than a 1.5-fold copy number, and correlating the elevated copy number of ZABC1 (SEQ ID NO:9) with the presence of breast cancer.