Raaf H N, Jacobsen D W, Savon S, Green R
Department of Laboratory Hematology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195.
Am J Clin Pathol. 1993 Mar;99(3):232-7. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/99.3.232.
The transferrin receptor is expressed on the surface of rapidly dividing cells that require iron as a co-factor for essential redox reactions and deoxyribonucleotide synthesis. Transferrin receptors are expressed on the surface of breast carcinoma cells but not on benign breast tumor cells. In this study, the authors investigated whether transferrin receptor concentrations in the serum were elevated in patients with invasive adenocarcinoma of the breast. The transferrin receptor was isolated and purified from human placenta by affinity chromatography. The serum transferrin receptor concentration was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 19 patients with invasive breast adenocarcinoma, 12 of whom had involvement of axillary lymph nodes. These results were compared with those from 16 normal age-matched female controls. In the invasive breast cancer group, the range of transferrin receptor concentrations was 2.60-7.34 mg/L (mean, 4.44 mg/L) compared with 2.85-8.80 mg/L (mean, 5.49 mg/L) in the control group. Nine patients with in situ adenocarcinoma of the breast had transferrin receptor concentrations of 3.68-6.66 mg/L (mean, 4.94 mg/L). For both the invasive carcinoma group and the in situ group, the means were not significantly different from those of the control group (P = 0.06 and 0.32, respectively). It was concluded that the differential expression of transferrin receptor on the surface of malignant tumor cells in adenocarcinoma of the breast was not reflected by changes in circulating transferrin receptor concentrations.
转铁蛋白受体表达于快速分裂细胞的表面，这些细胞需要铁作为必需氧化还原反应和脱氧核糖核苷酸合成的辅助因子。转铁蛋白受体在乳腺癌细胞表面表达，但在良性乳腺肿瘤细胞表面不表达。在本研究中，作者调查了乳腺浸润性腺癌患者血清中转铁蛋白受体浓度是否升高。通过亲和层析从人胎盘中分离并纯化转铁蛋白受体。使用酶联免疫吸附测定法测定了19例乳腺浸润性腺癌患者的血清转铁蛋白受体浓度，其中12例有腋窝淋巴结受累。将这些结果与16名年龄匹配的正常女性对照的结果进行比较。在乳腺浸润癌组中，转铁蛋白受体浓度范围为2.60 - 7.34mg/L（平均4.44mg/L），而对照组为2.85 - 8.80mg/L（平均5.49mg/L）。9例乳腺原位腺癌患者的转铁蛋白受体浓度为3.68 - 6.66mg/L（平均4.94mg/L）。对于浸润癌组和原位癌组，其平均值与对照组相比均无显著差异（分别为P = 0.06和0.32）。得出的结论是，乳腺腺癌中恶性肿瘤细胞表面转铁蛋白受体的差异表达并未通过循环转铁蛋白受体浓度的变化反映出来。
