Davies Gaynor, Cunnick Giles H, Mansel Robert E, Mason Malcolm D, Jiang Wen G
Metastasis Research Group, University Department of Surgery, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK.
Clin Exp Metastasis. 2004;21(1):31-7. doi: 10.1023/b:clin.0000017168.83616.d0.
Tumour endothelial markers (TEMs) are a newly discovered family of endothelial markers associated with tumour specific angiogenesis. This study sought to examine the levels of expression for TEMs in human breast cancer. Breast cancer tissues (n = 120) together with normal background tissues (n = 33) were obtained after surgery. RNA was extracted from frozen sections for gene amplification. The expression of TEMs was assessed using RT-PCR and the quantity of their transcripts was determined using real-time-quantitative PCR (Q-RT-PCR). TEM-7R (P = 0.05) and TEM-8 (P < 0.01) were significantly raised in breast cancer tissues compared with the levels detected in normal background tissues. After a median follow-up of 72.2 months it was found that patients who had recurrent disease and/or who had died from breast cancer had a significantly (P < 0.05) elevated level of TEM-1 compared to those patients who were disease free. In addition, elevated levels of TEM-4, TEM-5, TEM-6, TEM-7 and TEM-7R were also raised in breast cancer tissues. Patients who had developed nodal involvement exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) high levels of TEM-1 and TEM-7R compared to patients who were node negative. Furthermore, the levels of TEMs did not correlate with tumour or histological grade. We conclude that elevated levels of TEM-1, TEM-7R and TEM-8 (but not TEM-2, 4, 5, 6 and 7) are associated with either nodal involvement, and/or disease progression, and may therefore, have a prognostic value in breast cancer.
肿瘤内皮标志物（TEMs）是新发现的一类与肿瘤特异性血管生成相关的内皮标志物。本研究旨在检测人类乳腺癌中TEMs的表达水平。手术后获取了120例乳腺癌组织以及33例正常对照组织。从冰冻切片中提取RNA用于基因扩增。采用逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）评估TEMs的表达，并使用实时定量聚合酶链反应（Q-RT-PCR）测定其转录本数量。与正常对照组织相比，乳腺癌组织中TEM-7R（P = 0.05）和TEM-8（P < 0.01）表达显著升高。中位随访72.2个月后发现，与无病患者相比，疾病复发和/或死于乳腺癌的患者TEM-1水平显著升高（P < 0.05）。此外，乳腺癌组织中TEM-4、TEM-5、TEM-6、TEM-7和TEM-7R水平也升高。与无淋巴结转移患者相比，发生淋巴结转移患者的TEM-1和TEM-7R水平显著升高（P < 0.05）。此外，TEMs水平与肿瘤或组织学分级无关。我们得出结论：TEM-1、TEM-7R和TEM-8（而非TEM-2、4、5、6和7）水平升高与淋巴结转移和/或疾病进展相关，因此可能对乳腺癌具有预后价值。
