Excluding patients with stage 4 disease from the analysis, high PTEN gene expression, defined as a PTEN mRNA level above the median, was associated with significantly shorter RFS (hazard ratio (HR) for recurrence 1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26–2.50, p = 0.001), and DSS (HR for breast cancer-specific death 1.72, 95% CI 1.20–2.47, p = 0.003) across the pooled cohort of patients with stage 3 disease (n = 282, Fig. 3a–d). This evidence concerns the gene PTEN and breast cancer.