Breast cancer affects women at relatively high frequency (1). We mined published microarray datasets (2, 3) to determine in an unbiased fashion and at the systems level genes most differentially expressed in the primary tumors of patients with breast cancer. We report here significant differential expression of the gene encoding bone morphogenetic protein 2, BMP2, when comparing primary tumors of the breast to the tissue of origin, the normal breast. BMP2 mRNA was present at significantly lower

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... quantities in tumors of the breast as compared to normal breast tissue. Analysis of human survival data revealed that expression of BMP2 in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with recurrence-free survival in patients with luminal A subtype cancer, demonstrating a relationship between primary tumor expression of a differentially expressed gene and patient survival outcomes influenced by PAM50 molecular subtype. BMP2 may be of relevance to initiation, maintenance or progression of cancers of the female breast.