EXPRESSION OF ORNITHINE DECARBOXYLASE MESSENGER-RNA AND C-MYC MESSENGER-RNA IN BREAST-TUMORS

We examined the expression of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) mRNA in 53 female cases of breast cancer by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase c hain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to determine the clinicopathologic signif icance of its expression. A significantly higher expression of ODC mRN A was, observed in younger patients than in older patients. The patien ts with a larger sized tumour possessed a significantly higher express ion of ODC mRNA. In addition, the cases with a poor prognosis showed s ignificantly higher expression of ODC, Previous studies have reported in vivo and in vitro correlation between the expression of ODC and c-m yc genes in human carcinomas. We disclosed a significant correlation b etween these genes in primary breast carcinomas. We conclude that the expression of ODC may potentially be a new biological masker for breas t carcinoma.