Molecular detection of human mammaglobin in cerebrospinal fluid from breast cancer patient with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.
Leptomeningeal (LM) carcinomatosis is an increasing clinical complication in patients with advanced breast cancer (BC). The LM carcinomatosis diagnostic procedures rely mainly on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology, although both the amount of CSF and the number of malignant cells remain limiting factors. Therefore, efforts should be made to design new highly sensitive diagnostic tools to detect malignant cells in CSF of BC patients with LM carcinomatosis. In this study, the human Mammaglobin (hMAM) mRNA amplification by RT-PCR was employed to detect metastatic cells in CSF and thus, to diagnose LM carcinomatosis in a BC patient. Our data demonstrate that hMAM transcripts are expressed in the CSF of a BC patient with LM carcinomatosis, hence making RT-PCR for hMAM a potentially suitable test to identify occult BC cells in the brain.
Clinical Chemistry and Microbiology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via M. Asso 2, La Spezia, Italy. maria.dono@asl5.liguria.it
Mariella
M
Dono
Paola
P
Ferro
Luana
L
Benedetti
Cesare
C
Capellini
Michele
M
Moroni
Paolo
P
Dessanti
Bartolomeo
B
Bacigalupo
Antonio
A
Tartaglione
Enrico
E
Battolla
Franco
F
Fedeli
Silvio
S
Roncella
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D060785:Mammaglobin A; D055756:Meningeal Carcinomatosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D014598:Uteroglobin / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000235:genetics*
D060785:Mammaglobin A; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C556448:SCGB2A2 protein, human; D014598:Uteroglobin