Elevated expression of the CC chemokine regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) in advanced breast carcinoma

Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant disease among women and the s econd most lethal one. In search for a better understanding of the role of cellular mediators in the progression of this disease, we investigated the potential involvement of the CC chemokine Regulated on Activation, Normal T Cell Expressed and Secreted (RANTES) in breast carcinoma progression. To t his end, RANTES expression was determined in breast tumor cell lines and in sections of breast carcinomas, followed by analysis of the incidence and i ntensity of its expression in different stages of the disease. Our study re veals that high and physiologically relevant levels of RANTES are constitut ively produced by T47D and MCF-7 breast tumor cell lines. Analysis of RANTE S expression in sections of breast carcinomas demonstrates a high incidence of RANTES expression in epithelial tumor cells; the chemokine was expresse d in 74% of the sections. RANTES expression was rarely detected in normal d uct epithelial cells or in epithelial cells that constitute benign breast L umps, which were located in proximity to tumor cells. High incidence and in tensity of RANTES expression were detected in sections of most of the patie nts with stage II, and stage II of the disease (expression was detected in 83 and 83.3%, respectively), whereas RANTES was expressed at a lower incide nce and intensity in sections of patients with stage I of breast carcinoma (55% of the cases), Most importantly, the expression of RANTES was minimall y detected in sections of patients diagnosed with benign breast disorders a nd of women that underwent reduction mammoplasty (15.4% of the cases). Thes e results indicate that the expression of RANTES is directly correlated wit h a more advanced stage of disease, suggesting that RANTES may be involved in breast cancer progression, Moreover, it is possible that in patients dia gnosed with benign breast disorders, RANTES expression may be indicative of an ongoing, but as yet undetectable, malignant process.