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Cancer Diagnostics |
1 Corixa Corporation, Seattle, WA.
2 University of Dakar, Senegal, West Africa.
3 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and4
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
aAddress correspondence to this author at: Corixa Corporation, 1900 9th Ave., Suite 1100, Seattle, WA 98101. Fax 206-366-3759; e-mail David.Persing{at}corixa.com.
Background: The aim of this study was to examine the potential usefulness of a mammaglobin multigene reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay and a mammaglobin sandwich ELISA as diagnostic tools in breast cancer.
Methods: We studied peripheral blood samples from 147 untreated Senegalese women with biopsy-confirmed breast cancer and gathered patient information regarding demographic, and clinical staging of disease. The samples were tested for mammaglobin and three breast cancer-associated gene transcripts by a multigene real-time RT-PCR assay and for serum mammaglobin protein by a sandwich ELISA assay.
Results: In 77% of the breast cancer blood samples, a positive signal was obtained in the multigene RT-PCR assay detecting mammaglobin and three complementary transcribed genes. Fifty samples from healthy female donors tested negative. Significant correlations were found between mammaglobin protein in serum, presence of mammaglobin mRNA-expressing cells in blood, stage of disease, and tumor size. Circulating mammaglobin protein was detected in 68% of the breast cancer sera, and was increased in 38% in comparison with a mixed control population. The RT-PCR assay and the ELISA for mammaglobin produced a combined sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 97%.
Conclusion: The ELISA and RT-PCR for mammaglobin and mammaglobin-producing cells could be valuable tools for diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer.
The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:
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M. Lacroix Significance, detection and markers of disseminated breast cancer cells Endocr. Relat. Cancer, December 1, 2006; 13(4): 1033 - 1067. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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P. N. Span, N. I. Grebenchtchikov, A. Geurts-Moespot, and F. C.G.J. Sweep Concerns about Mammaglobin Assays Clin. Chem., February 1, 2005; 51(2): 474 - 475. [Full Text] [PDF] |
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