http://mednews.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/6084.html
Nov. 2, 2005 — Physicians treating women with breast cancer recognize the need for a specific and sensitive method to monitor disease recurrence, so they should be encouraged by a new study that describes a biomarker that seems to fill those criteria.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that mammaglobin, a protein secreted by breast tumor cells, can readily be detected in the blood serum of patients with metastatic breast cancer using an inexpensive, reliable clinical test.
Mammaglobin, a protein secreted by breast tumor cells, can readily be detected in the blood serum of patients with metastatic breast cancer using an inexpensive, reliable clinical test.
"A test for mammaglobin holds significant promise for catching metastatic tumors early," says study co-author Timothy P. Fleming, Ph.D., research associate professor of surgery at the School of Medicine and a researcher with the Siteman Cancer Center. "Compared to the few other known biomarkers linked to breast cancer, mammaglobin is the best. The protein is found in breast tissue and is secreted by most breast tumors."
The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, tested 56 women without breast cancer and 26 women with metastatic breast cancer. The women without breast cancer were found to have a steady, low level of mammaglobin in their blood. This baseline level was not affected by age, body mass index, menopausal status, race, smoking history or a family history of breast cancer.
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