Expression and clinical significance of hMAM mRNA and CD44V6 mRNA in peripheral blood from patients with breast cancer

Objective To explore the expression of human mammoglobin (hMAM) mRNA and CD44V6 mRNA in peripheral blood from the patients with breast cancer and its clinical significance.Methods The expression of hMAM mRNA and CD44V6 mRNA was detected in peripheral blood from 67 patients with breast cancer,16 breast benign lesions and 20 healthy volunteers by nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (Nested-RT-PCR).Results The expression rate of hMAM mRNA was 50.7% in peripheral blood from patients with breast cancer,and the expression of hMAM mRNA in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients with stage Ⅳ was significantly higher than those with stages Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ (P 0.05).No hMAM mRNA expression was detected in peripheral blood of healthy volunteers,but only 6.25% patients with breast benign lesions was positive.There was no difference in the expressions of CD44V6 mRNA in peripheral blood among breast cancer,breast benign lesions and healthy volunteers (P 0.05).Conclusion hMAM mRNA is sensitive and specific for breast cancer,and the positive expression of hMAM mRNA in peripheral blood might predict the hematogenous metastatic spreading of tumor cells.CD44V6 mRNA as a marker of breast cancer cells in peripheral blood is lack of specificity.