Comparative polymerase chain reaction analysis of c-myc amplification on archival breast fine-needle aspiration materials.

The oncogene c-myc is a key regulator of cell cycle progression (from G1 to S phase). The amplification of c-myc can either induce cell proliferation or apoptosis. As a part of our ongoing effort to develop methods for multiple tumor marker analysis, this study was carried out to determine whether biomarkers such as c-myc amplification could be analyzed on genetic materials collected from archival fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears.