title: Lack of beta-casein production by human breast tumours revealed by monoclonal antibodies.
abstract: An immunohistochemical study with four monoclonal antibodies to human beta-casein was carried out to examine the expression of this milk protein in a wide range of normal tissues, in 127 breast tumours and in a heterogeneous panel of 42 malignancies of other histogenesis. The only normal tissue stained positively by the antibodies was the mammary gland in late pregnancy, during lactation and in the post-lactational regression period. None of the tumours of non-mammary origin showed any staining. Furthermore, only two of 40 benign breast lesions and one anaplastic primary carcinoma with its metastasis (among 87 breast carcinomas) showed any reactivity. The immunohistochemical results were supported by immunoblotting data and suggested beta-casein expression has no role to play as a marker in the diagnosis or monitoring of human breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Oncology, Brno, Czechoslovakia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bártková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burchell
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bártek
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vojtĕsek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor-Papadimitriou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rejthar
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Stasková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kovarík
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001940:Breast / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D002364:Caseins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007774:Lactation / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D002364:Caseins