Expression of Mammaglobin and Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Breast Cancer Using Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

摘要

>Background and Objectives: style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:Verdana;">Breast cancer is among the most common causes of cancer related mortality in women worldwide. Early detection and prompt diagnosis of tumor is the first step to prevent cancer-related morbidity and mortality, and a comprehensive understanding of the involved molecular mechanisms can greatly help in this respect. Breast cancer, like many other types of cancer, is caused by a combination of genetic and epigenetic changes such as inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. style="font-family:Verdana;">Materials and Methods: style="font-family:Verdana;">This study was performed on 40 breast cancer patients and 40 healthy controls. Quantitative real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real time qRT-PCR) was used to assess the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and mammaglobin mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients and healthy controls. The two groups were compared using t-test. style="font-family:Verdana;">Results: style="font-family:Verdana;">The two groups were not significantly different in terms of the mean style="font-family:Verdana;">age. Twenty-nine out of 40 cancer patients were positive for CEA mRNA and its style="font-family:Verdana;"> sensitivity was calculated to be 72.5%. Twelve out of 40 healthy controls were style="font-family:Verdana;">positive for CEA mRNA. Twenty-six out of 40 patients were positive for mammaglobin style="font-family:Verdana;">mRNA indicative of 65% sensitivity while only five out of 40 healthy controls were positive for mammaglobin mRNA. style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusion: style="font-family:Verdana;">Both CEA and mammaglobin mRNA had high sensitivity in cancer patients; thus, they can be used for screening and early detection of breast cancer patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to confirm the current findings.