title: Human mammaglobin: a superior marker for reverse-transcriptase PCR in detecting circulating tumor cells in breast cancer patients.
abstract: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women in the USA and the second most common cause of death in females who develop cancer. Recently, the detection of circulating tumor cells has emerged as a promising tool for monitoring the progression of clinically occult micrometastases in breast cancer patients. Sensitive molecular techniques, primarily based upon the reverse-transcriptase PCR, using various molecules as markers, have been developed to detect circulating tumor cells. Among those molecules, human mammaglobin mRNA has been found to be the most specific marker for the hematogenous spread of breast cancer cells. In this article, we review the current knowledge regarding the use of reverse-transcriptase PCR for detecting human mammaglobin mRNA as a biomarker for circulating tumor cells in breast cancer patients, and evaluate the clinical implications of human mammaglobin since it was first isolated in 1996.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, China.
authors.forename: GuangLiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: KeTao
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: KuiFeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: HaoHao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: HaiQi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: LiSong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teng
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D060785:Mammaglobin A; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014598:Uteroglobin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D060785:Mammaglobin A; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C556448:SCGB2A2 protein, human; D014598:Uteroglobin