Regular Article

British Journal of Cancer (2001) 85, 1340–1346. doi:10.1054/bjoc.2001.2079 www.bjcancer.com
Published online 30 October 2001

Detection of MAGE-A3 in breast cancer patients' sentinel lymph nodes

R A Wascher1, P J Bostick1,2, K T Huynh1, R Turner3, K Qi4, A E Giuliano2 and D S B Hoon1

  1. 1Department of Molecular Oncology, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, 90404
  2. 2Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Breast Center, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, 90404
  3. 3Department of Pathology, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, 90404
  4. 4Division of Biostatistics, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, 90404

Received 1 December 2000; Revised 16 July 2001; Accepted 23 July 2001.

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Abstract

The detection of occult metastatic breast cancer cells by RT-PCR is limited by the poor specificity of most tumour mRNA markers. MAGE-A3 is a highly specific tumour mRNA marker that is not expressed in non-cancer cells. This study assesses MAGE-A3 mRNA as a molecular marker for the detection of tumour cells in the sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) of breast cancer patients. Serial frozen sections of SLN (n= 121) were obtained from 77 AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) Stage I–IIIA breast cancer patients. MAGE-A3 mRNA analysis of SLN was performed by RT-PCR and Southern blot analysis. Tumour cells were detected in 48 of 121 (40%) SLN from 77 patients by H&E or IHC staining, and 35 of 77 (45%) patients, overall, had histopathologically (H&E and/or IHC) positive SLN. Among histopathologically negative SLN, 28 of 73 (38%) SLN were MAGE-A3 mRNA positive by RT-PCR. Overall, 41 of 77 (53%) patients and 50 of 121 (41%) SLN were positive for MAGE-A3. MAGE-A3 mRNA expression in the SLN occurred more frequently with infiltrating lobular carcinoma (P< 0.001) than with infiltrating ductal carcinoma, adding further evidence of possible phenotypic differences between these 2 subtypes of breast cancer. Due to its high specificity, MAGE-A3 mRNA is a potentially useful marker for detecting breast cancer cells in the SLN. One half of breast tumours expressed MAGE-A3 mRNA, which has important potential implications for antigen-specific targeted immunotherapy. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com

Keywords:

breast cancer, MAGE-A3, micrometastases, RT-PCR, sentinel lymph node

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