A small subgroup of operable breast cancer patients with poor prognosis identified by quantitative real-time RT-PCR detection of mammaglobin A and trefoil factor 1 mRNA expression in bone marrow.

Purpose: The utility of three different epithelial mRNA markers to detect clinically significant, disseminated tumour cells in bone marrow (BM) was explored.

Methods: Mammaglobin A (hMAM), trefoil factor 1 (TFF-1) and prostate derived Ets factor (PDEF) mRNA were quantitated by real-time RT-PCR in BM samples from 192 breast cancer patients undergoing surgery (control group: 26 healthy women).

Results: During a median follow-up of 72 months, four of the five hMAM BM-positive and three of the seven TFF-1 BM-positive patients experienced a systemic relapse.