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Updated: Jul 14, 2026
Evaluation of Lung Metastasis in Mouse Mammary Tumor Models by Quantitative Real-time PCR
Published on: January 29, 2016
A multimarker real-time RT-PCR for MAGE-A gene expression allows sensitive detection and quantification of the
Ingo Mecklenburg1, Dorothea Weckermann, Alfred Zippelius
1Institute of Immunology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. ingo.mecklenburg@med.uni-muenchen.de
Introduction:
Distant metastases of solid tumors are usually associated with fatal outcome. Disseminated cancer cells are considered early indicators of metastasis. Their sensitive detection and quantification would be a valuable tool for staging of disease and as guidance for therapeutic decisions.
Experimental Design:
We established a highly sensitive and quantitative multimarker real-time RT-PCR assay for amplification of cancer-related genes MAGE-A1, -A2, -A3/6, -A4, -A10 and -A12 using SYBR green I to detect one single tumor cell in 2 mL of blood or bone marrow. The feasibility of the assay was tested in a large cohort of 177 patients with locally confined prostate carcinoma.
Results:
Analysis revealed frequent MAGE expression in venous blood and bilateral bone marrow samples (25.5% of all cases) and yielded the first quantitative profile of MAGE expression with a broad range of transcript concentrations for individual markers in the minimal systemic tumor load of patients with localized cancer.
Conclusions:
Rare transcripts of different MAGE-A genes can be quantified in clinical samples of cancer patients by a sensitive multimarker real-time RT-PCR. Because of frequent expression of MAGE genes in various types of cancer the multimarker MAGE real-time RT-PCR may be generally useful for detection, quantification and characterization of the individual disseminated tumor load in cancer patients.
