title: Lactoferrin expression in human breast cancer.
abstract: We analyzed lactoferrin expression in 78 samples from patients with sporadic breast cancer and found 31/78 negative for mRNA expression. Similar results were obtained by immuno-histochemical localization of the lactoferrin protein. We did not find relationship between lactoferrin expression and clinical parameters. We investigated for the absent lactoferrin expression in some cases of breast cancer. In 68 of the samples analyzed, we found an inverse correlation between estrogen receptor expression and lactoferrin expression (P < 0,0001), thus indicating that regulation by the estrogen receptor is not the main element responsible for the expression of lactoferrin in breast cancer. Analysis of methylation of the lactoferrin genomic DNA extracted from the same patients revealed that the degree of methylation does not explain the observed absence of lactoferrin. The 937 bp lactoferrin promoter was investigated for possible mutations. By single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis one polymorphic site was found and characterized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology Biology and Genetics, University of Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Penco
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Caligo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cipollini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bevilacqua
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garré
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D014157:Transcription Factors; D007781:Lactoferrin