Patent ID: 7504214

Claim:
A method to determine the risk of cancer recurrence in a human subject afflicted with ER+ (estrogen receptor positive) breast cancer, said method comprising determining an expected cancer recurrence for said subject by assaying a sample of breast cancer cells from said subject for a ratio of HoxB13 and IL17BR RNA expression levels that is higher than the mean (average) ratio of HoxB13 and IL17BR RNA expression levels in ER+ breast cancer cells; or determining an expected lack of cancer recurrence for said subject by assaying a sample of breast cancer cells from said subject for a ratio of HoxB13 and IL17BR RNA expression levels that is below the mean (average) ratio of HoxB13 and IL17BR RNA expression levels in ER+ breast cancer cells; wherein said mean (average) ratio of HoxB13 and IL17BR RNA expression levels is determined from the mean (average) of HoxB13 RNA expression levels, and the mean (average) of IL17BR RNA expression levels, in ER+ breast cancer cell samples from human breast cancer subjects that respond to treatment with tamoxifen and human breast cancer subjects that do not respond to treatment with tamoxifen.