[Detection of mammaglobin mRNA as a marker for circulating tumor cells in breast carcinoma].
Mammaglobin (hMAM) has been shown to be a marker for the detection of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood (pB) of breast cancer (BC) patients via a nested RT-PCR assay. 286 samples from BC patients were classified into four defined clinical subgroups: prior to and after surgery (pre, post), no evidence of disease (NED) and metastatic disease (MD). hMAM mRNA expression was detected in 2/46 pre (4%), 2/24 post (8%), 4/135 NED (3%) and 35/81 MD (43%) patients. 68 BC patients with NED and negative for hMAM mRNA in their pB were repeatedly tested for at least 6 months. Fifteen of these patients relapsed. Eight of them were hMAM-positive, 5 at time of relapse, one patient 13 months before and two patients 10 and 17 months after relapse was diagnosed. 7/15 BC patients relapsed within 24 months, 5 of them were hMAM-positive versus 3 of 8 patients with later relapses. On the basis of these preliminary results we conclude that tumor cells can be detected via hMAM nested RT-PCR in the pB of BC patients and that hMAM could be a marker for early relapse.
1. Interne Abteilung, Krankenhaus der Elisabethinen, Fadingerstrasse 1, A-4010 Linz. otto.zach@elisabethinen.or.at
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D060785:Mammaglobin A; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014598:Uteroglobin / Q000235:genetics*
D060785:Mammaglobin A; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C556448:SCGB2A2 protein, human; D014598:Uteroglobin