Array Comparative Genomic hybridization of breast cancer in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide and is the most common cancer among Saudi females [1]. Breast carcinogenesis is associated by a wide-array of cytogenomic changes involving deletions, amplification or translocations of part or whole chromosome arms. However, there are several changes that could not be detected at the resolution offered by classical cytogenetic techniques. Many of these regions could provide further insight into the disease and may harbor potential prognostic values. The development of Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) allowed the identification of such regions at a genomic scale and currently there is a plethora of scientific publications reporting cytogenomic changes in different cancer types [2]. Unfortunately, there are no studies as yet published specifically looking at breast cancer from Saudi patients.