Cytoplasmic staining of c-erbB-2 is not associated with the presence of detectable c-erbB-2 mRNA in breast cancer specimens.
The cell-surface receptor tyrosine kinase protein c-erbB-2 is immunocytochemically detected as membrane staining on the surface of cancer cells in 20-30% of cases of breast cancer, and its presence has been associated with poor prognosis for the patient. However, there have been numerous reports of immunocytochemical staining for c-erbB-2 solely in the cytoplasm of some normal and tumour specimens with frequently used anti-sera, and the presence of such staining has been difficult to interpret. It is not known for certain that cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 staining is an artefact of the immunocytochemical procedures used. Thus, mRNA for c-erbB-2 has been quantified in tumours exhibiting only cytoplasmic staining or varying levels of membrane staining using a sensitive, competitive PCR method. Whereas abundant levels of c-erbB-2 mRNA are found in tumours exhibiting membrane staining for c-erbB-2 and these levels correlate with the percentage of tumour cells showing membranous staining for c-erbB-2, the level of c-erbB-2 mRNA in tumours displaying only cytoplasmic staining is no higher than in c-erbB-2-negative specimens.
Taylor
S L
SL
Cancer Tissue Bank Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK.
Platt-Higgins
A
A
Rudland
P S
PS
Winstanley
J H
JH
Barraclough
R
R
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases