Detection of HMGI-C in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients

The human high mobility group (HMG) protein (HMGI-C) belongs to the HMG fam ily of architectural transcription factors which are expressed only during embryonic development, and not in normal adult tissues. Considerable intere st has recently been shown in HMGI-C and its expression in a variety of neo plastic tissues, whereas no expression could be found in normal tissue adja cent to the tumour. So far, no data is available on the expression of HIMGI -C in the peripheral blood of patients with solid tumours. In this study we analysed the expression of HMGI-C in peripheral blood samples of 61 patien ts with breast cancer and 35 healthy donors using a haemi-nested reverse tr anscriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. No HMGI-C could b e detected in any of the healthy donors' samples. In the three prognostic g roups according to the Nottingham Prognostic Score, the proportion of patie nts expressing HMGI-C differed significantly (P = 0.001). The worse the pro gnosis was, the more patients expressed HMGI-C. This is the first report on the expression of HMGI-C in the peripheral blood of patients with breast c ancer and our data suggest that this expression is correlated with a poor p rognosis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.