Immunocytochemical Characterization of Disseminated Tumour Cells from Bone Marrow of Breast Cancer Patients.
BACKGROUND
The occurrence of disseminated tumour cells in bone marrow of patients with breast cancer is linked to a worse prognosis. We present a method for DTC detection from bone marrow samples based on immunocytochemistry, using breast cancer-associated glycosylation molecules as markers for detection and characterization.


METHODS
A double immunofluorescence staining of a pan-cytokeratin (CK) marker and either Tn or O-Acetyl-GD3 was carried out in artificial and patient bone marrow samples.


RESULTS
The sample in which most cells stained positive for CK/Tn and CK/O-AC-GD3, was obtained from a patient who certainly had remote metastases. All other bone marrow samples showed heterogenous staining, so no correlation to tumour characteristics could be revealed.


CONCLUSIONS
A certain characterization of tumour cells can be achieved by a double staining of bone marrow samples with CK and a glycosylation marker. For future studies, analysis should be extended to a larger patient collective and further examination of more glycosylation markers should be carried out.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Ulrich
U
Andergassen
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Anja
A
Vogl
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Jan-Niclas
JN
Mumm
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Alexandra C
AC
Kölbl
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Stefan
S
Hutter
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Brigitte
B
Rack
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Klaus
K
Friese
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany Udo.Jeschke@med.uni-muenchen.de.
Udo
U
Jeschke
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D007633:Keratins
Breast cancer; bone marrow; glycosylation; immunocytochemistry