Cytoplasmic staining of c‐erbB‐2 is not associated with the presence of detectable c‐erbB‐2 mRNA in breast cancer specimens

The cell‐surface receptor tyrosine kinase protein c‐erbB‐2 is immunocytochemically detected as membrane staining on the surface of cancer cells in 20–30% of cases of breast cancer, and its presence has been associated with poor prognosis for the patient. However, there have been numerous reports of immunocytochemical staining for c‐erbB‐2 solely in the cytoplasm of some normal and tumour specimens with frequently used anti‐sera, and the presence of such staining has been difficult to interpret. It is not known for certain that cytoplasmic c‐erbB‐2 staining is an artefact of the immunocytochemical procedures used. Thus, mRNA for c‐erbB‐2 has been quantified in tumours exhibiting only cytoplasmic staining or varying levels of membrane staining using a sensitive, competitive PCR method. Whereas abundant levels of c‐erbB‐2 mRNA are found in tumours exhibiting membrane staining for c‐erbB‐2 and these levels correlate with the percentage of tumour cells showing membranous staining for c‐erbB‐2, the level of c‐erbB‐2 mRNA in tumours displaying only cytoplasmic staining is no higher than in c‐erbB‐2‐negative specimens. Int. J. Cancer 76:459–463, 1998.© 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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