Directly comparing gene expression profiles of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) breast cancers cannot determine whether differentially expressed genes between these two subtypes result from dysregulated expression in ER+ cancer or ER− cancer versus normal controls, and thus would miss critical information for elucidating the transcriptomic difference between the two subtypes. This evidence concerns the gene ESR1 and breast cancer.