title: Impact of mistletoe lectin binding in breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One of the most often used complementary or alternative anticancer therapeutics for breast cancer is mistletoe extract with Viscum album lectin (VAA-1) as the leading component. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between VAA-1 binding in breast cancer and disease outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  VAA-1 binding to either tumour cells or tumour infiltrating inflammatory cells was examined by immunohistochemical staining of paraffin tissue sections from breast cancer patients (n=226).
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 34% of breast cancer tumour cells displayed a strong VAA-1 binding. Kaplan-Meier statistics revealed an inverse correlation between disease outcome and presence of strong VAA-1 binding to tumour cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As binding of VAA-1 indicates the presence of galactose molecules in saccharide structures of the cytoplasm or cell membrane, we conclude that the amount of galactose-containing glycoproteins, mucoproteins and glycolipids in breast cancer tumour cells is related to disease outcome.
authors.affiliation: Zentrum für diagnostische Medizin Robert Bosch Krankenhaus, Auerbachstr. 110, D-70376 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dippon
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kierschke
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Siegle
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Möhring
authors.forename: Adina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moisa
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Mürdter
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011379:Prognosis; D054790:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; D014118:Toxins, Biological / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations; D010940:Plant Proteins; D054790:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C009674:ribosome inactivating protein, Viscum