The independent relative risk for histological grade has been reported to be approximately 1.70–3.20 (Simpson et al, 2000; Elston and Ellis, 2002; Volpi et al, 2004), for HER2 2.56 (Joensuu et al, 2003), and for the tumour-related proteolytic factors uPA and PAI-1 in a pooled analysis from 18 patient populations 2.58–3.12 (Look et al, 2002). This evidence concerns the gene ERBB2 and neoplasm.