Demonstration of gene-amplification by PCR in archival paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a powerful tool to examine genetic alterations in tumor samples. We describe a simple, rapid, nonisotopic PCR method to semi-quantitatively determine the number of gene copies in human formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue. The procedure is exemplified by analysis of 15 years old breast cancer samples to determine the presence of amplification of c-erb-B2. The samples were obtained from routine specimens kept in pathological archives. Patients with amplified samples showed a poor prognosis, both for recurrences and death in breast cancer.
Lönn
U
U
Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Lönn
S
S
Nilsson
B
B
Silfverswärd
C
C
Stenkvist
B
B
D001109:Archives; D001483:Base Sequence; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000235:genetics*; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis