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. 1996 Nov;74(10):1639–1642. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1996.601

Keratin 19 mRNA measurement to detect micrometastases in lymph nodes in breast cancer patients.

A Schoenfeld 1, Y Luqmani 1, H D Sinnett 1, S Shousha 1, R C Coombes 1
PMCID: PMC2074850  PMID: 8932347

Abstract

We have used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure keratin 19 mRNA in order to detect breast cancer cells invading axillary lymph nodes. In a consecutive series of 125 patients with primary breast cancer, 75 patients had no evidence of lymph node involvement by conventional histology. A total of 530 lymph nodes from these patients were examined and 106 (20%) gave a keratin 19 product detectable by Southern hybridisation. This correlated with primary tumour size (P<0.001). These 106 nodes came from 23 patients. Thus, using this technique, 23/75 (30.6%) patients were found to have evidence of lymph node involvement who would otherwise have been designated lymph node negative.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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