Thus, although breast cancer cytogenetics is notoriously complex, loss of 3p material, including the FHIT region, is an early event in a fraction of breast cancers, and homozygous loss of at least a portion of the FHIT gene was observed in a case of bilaterial breast cancer, as were aberrant FHIT RT–PCR products and reduced Fhit expression in several series of sporadic breast cancers (reviewed in Huebner et al, 1998). This evidence concerns the gene FHIT and breast cancer.