Impact of mistletoe lectin binding in breast cancer.
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.
Fritz
Peter
P
Zentrum für diagnostische Medizin Robert Bosch Krankenhaus, Auerbachstr. 110, D-70376 Stuttgart, Germany.
Dippon
Jürgen
J
Kierschke
Thomas
T
Siegle
Isabel
I
Möhring
Alexandra
A
Moisa
Adina
A
Mürdter
Thomas E
TE
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*
D028321:Plant Preparations; D010940:Plant Proteins; D054790:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C009674:ribosome inactivating protein, Viscum