When the BAD-mediated apoptotic pathway expression results were compared among the various stages of cancer progression, the expression score was higher in the atypical ductal hyperplasia breast tissue samples (mean expression score, 0.687, n=8) than in the ductal carcinoma in situ samples (mean expression score, 0.046, n=23) and higher in ductal carcinoma in situ than in invasive ductal carcinoma (mean expression score, −0.298, n=30, Spearman’s correlation estimate, −0.264, P=0.04) (Fig. 1D). This evidence concerns the gene BAD and ductal breast carcinoma in situ.