Abstract
The detection of circulating cancer cells in the bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) of patients with solid tumors may be useful for disease staging. To this aim, we evaluated the expression of the mammaglobin gene by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 60 patients with breast cancer. Moreover, several controls were examined to test the specificity of this marker. The positive cases included 23.6% of the patients with and 9% of those without metastasis. Only 4/60 negative controls analyzed were positive by PCR. Our results show high specificity and a good correlation with disease status.
MeSH terms
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Adenocarcinoma / genetics*
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Adenocarcinoma / secondary
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Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
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Blood Cells / chemistry
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Bone Marrow / pathology*
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Bone Marrow Neoplasms / genetics*
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Bone Marrow Neoplasms / secondary
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Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
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Breast Neoplasms / pathology
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Case-Control Studies
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DNA Primers / chemistry
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DNA, Neoplasm / analysis
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Female
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Humans
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Lymphatic Metastasis
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Mammaglobin A
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Neoplasm Metastasis
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Neoplasm Proteins / genetics*
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Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / pathology*
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RNA, Messenger / genetics
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RNA, Neoplasm / genetics
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Risk Factors
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Uteroglobin / genetics*
Substances
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Biomarkers, Tumor
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DNA Primers
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DNA, Neoplasm
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Mammaglobin A
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Neoplasm Proteins
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RNA, Messenger
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RNA, Neoplasm
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SCGB2A2 protein, human
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Uteroglobin