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Reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of the maspin gene in the detection of bone marrow breast carcinoma cell contamination
Author(s) -
Ballestrero Alberto,
Coviello Domenico A.,
Garuti Anna,
Nencioni Alessio,
Famà Anna,
Rocco Ilaria,
Bertorelli Roberto,
Ferrando Fabio,
Gonella Roberta,
Patrone Franco
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(20011015)92:8<2030::aid-cncr1541>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - maspin , medicine , bone marrow , breast carcinoma , pathology , breast cancer , chemotherapy , lymph node , reverse transcriptase , oncology , polymerase chain reaction , cancer , metastasis , biology , gene , biochemistry
BACKGROUND Maspin is a molecular marker used for the detection of contaminating breast carcinoma (BC) cells in peripheral blood and lymph nodes. However, its specificity has been questioned recently. The objective of this study was to verify the specificity of this marker and to determine the incidence of positive bone marrow results in patients with BC who are eligible for high‐dose chemotherapy (HDT) both in early and advanced disease stages and before and after treatment. METHODS Bone marrow specimens from 41 patients with BC as well as from 35 normal volunteers and 17 patients with hematologic tumors were examined for maspin transcript expression by a modified nested reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction technique. RESULTS Maspin transcript was found in all normal and neoplastic breast tissues and in none of the 35 normal bone marrow specimens (specificity, 100%; 95% confidence interval, 90–100%). However, the transcript was found in 40% of the bone marrow samples from patients with hematologic malignancies. Thus, this marker appears very specific for discriminating between normal controls and patients with BC, but it cannot be considered disease specific. Among patients with BC, bone marrow was positive for the maspin transcript in 32% of patients with early‐stage disease and in 75% of patients with metastatic disease before chemotherapy. After treatment, in 75% of patients with early‐stage disease and in 50% of patients with metastatic disease, the bone marrow results became maspin negative. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the current data, although it is not disease specific, maspin is a reliable marker for detecting bone marrow molecular disease in patients with BC and should be considered for prospective studies as a prognostic indicator and as an assay for monitoring residual disease. Cancer 2001;92:2030–5. © 2001 American Cancer Society.