70-gene signature

A laboratory test that is used to help predict whether breast cancer will spread to other parts of the body or come back. The test looks at the activity of 70 different genes in breast cancer tissue of women who have early-stage invasive breast cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes or has spread to 3 or fewer lymph nodes. If the test shows that there is a high risk that the cancer will spread or come back, treatment with anticancer drugs may be needed. Also called MammaPrint.