Challenges in Detection of Serum Oncoprotein: Relevance to Breast Cancer Diagnostics.

Breast cancer is a highly prevalent malignancy that shows improved outcomes with earlier diagnosis. Current screening and monitoring methods have improved survival rates, but the limitations of these approaches have led to the investigation of biomarker evaluation to improve early diagnosis and treatment monitoring. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a specific and robust technique ideally suited for the quantification of protein biomarkers from blood or its constituents.

Phosphosite-Specific Antibodies: A Brief Update on Generation and Applications.

Phosphate addition is a posttranslational modification of proteins, and this modification can affect the activity and other properties of intracellular proteins. Different animal species can be used to generate phosphosite-specific antibodies as either polyclonals or monoclonals, and each approach offers its own benefits and disadvantages. The validation of phosphosite-specific antibodies requires multiple techniques and tactics to demonstrate their specificity.

Genetic mapping of the rat Lcn2 gene to chromosome 3.

The expression of rat 24p3, encoded by the Lcn2 gene, has been associated with rat mammary carcinomas initiated by the neu oncogene (Stoesz and Gould, 1995). In this study, we assign the Lcn2 gene to rat chromosome band 3q12 by genetic linkage analysis.

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in normal and neoplastic human tissues. Cell type-specific pattern of expression.

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has recently been identified in myeloperoxidase-negative neutrophil granules. Members of the lipocalin family are thought to bind and transport small lipophilic molecules such as retinoids and roles in cell regulation have been proposed. Recently, NGAL has also been demonstrated in the colonic mucosa in certain pathologic conditions.

Heterogeneous expression of the lipocalin NGAL in primary breast cancers.

We have previously shown that neu oncogene-initiated rat mammary carcinomas uniquely over-express neu-related lipocalin (NRL), a member of the calycin protein superfamily. Here, we characterize the putative human homolog of NRL, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). ngal gene expression was found at moderate levels in only 2 of 17 human tissues examined, breast and lung.

Identification of a novel human glutathione S-transferase using bioinformatics.

In searching the expressed sequence tag (EST) data-base of GenBank with coding sequences of 11 known human glutathione S-transferases in conjunction with bioinformatic analysis, we have identified five ESTs that encode a new human glutathione S-transferase (GST) designated GST A4. The cDNA clone (I.M.

Overexpression of neu-related lipocalin (NRL) in neu-initiated but not ras or chemically initiated rat mammary carcinomas.

The activated neu (HER2/c-erbB-2) oncogene is extremely potent in inducing mammary cancer. For example, neu induces greater than 200 times as many tumors as the activated ras oncogene when directly introduced into in situ rat mammary epithelial cells using replication-defective retroviral vectors. In order to characterize mechanisms underlying this potency, we sought to identify uniquely overexpressed genes in neu-initiated tumors that were not overexpressed in tumors induced by weaker initiating agents, including activated ras and the chemical carcinogens dimethylbenz[a]anthracene and N-nitroso-N-methylurea.