Detection of circulating tumor cells by nested RT-PCR targeting mammaglobin mRNA in breast cancer patients

Background- Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in women and the common cause of cancer death. Recently, researchers enable to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes of breast cancer patients. This ability is useful for identifying patients at risk of developing metastasis.Over the past few years, different approaches for the detection and isolation of CTCs in blood have been developed. Among the different types of tumor markers, mammaglobin isoverexpressed in breast cancer, and has been established as a tumor and promissory marker for the early detection of metastasis.Aim- To evaluate the value of mammaglobin transcript in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer for diagnosis and prediction of metastasis.Method- Nested reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) was used to evaluate the expression of mammaglobin mRNA in the peripheral blood of Iranian patients with breast cancer and healthy women. Result- The mammaglobin mRNA was detected in 78 % of the breast cancer patients but not in healthy participants.Conclusion- Our results suggest that nested RT-PCR assay is a powerful method for detecting disseminated breast cancer cells. A larger study with long-term follow-up is required in order to clarify its clinical usefulness.

کلیدواژه ها:

Breast cancer ، circulating tumor cell ، mammaglobin ، metastasis ، nested RT-PCR.