2 İ.Ü. Onkoloji Enstitüsü, Temel Onkoloji Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of a molecular assay by investigating cytokeratin 19 (CK-19) and DF3 gene expressions in detection of occult cancer cells in bone marrow in patients with breast cancer.
METHODS
Transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays
were carried out for the detection of CK19 and DF3 mRNA
transcripts in bone marrow samples of 28 clinically axillary
negative patients with early breast cancer.
RESULTS
Median age of patients was 47.5 (range, 32-86). Due to the high
false positivity rate of the CK19-RT-PCR assay, and negative
findings by the DF3-RT-PCR assay in bone marrow samples of
patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia as negative controls,
DF3 expression was tested in further RT-PCR assays. E i g hteen
patients (64%) were found to harbor DF3-positivity in bone
marrow samples. No statistically significant associations could
be found between DF3-positivity and other parameters including
stage, tumor size (<2 cm vs >2 cm), axillary involvement,
ER/PR positivity, and high histologic or nuclear grade.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that testing DF3 expression by RT-PCR
technique seems to be a reliable method in detection of micrometastatic
cells in bone marrow in patients with early breast
cancer because of its high specificity.