muramidase and Breast-Diseases

The protein composition of breast secretions from 99 premenopausal women with benign or malignant breast diseases and from 70 control women without breast pathologies has been studied by using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These fluids have been classified into two types according to their major polypeptide components. Type I fluids are defined by three major distinctive bands at Mr 44,000, 24,000, and 17,000, while those designated Type II present distinctive bands at Mr 80,000, 15,000, and 14,000. Amino acid sequencing and immunoblotting analysis demonstrated that proteins in Type I secretions correspond to Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein, apolipoprotein D, and gross cystic disease fluid protein-15, while those from Type II fluids have been identified as lactoferrin, lysozyme, and alpha-lactalbumin. Most women (93%) without breast pathology and most patients (88%) with benign diseases had secretions with a Type I polypeptide pattern. By contrast, a large percentage (57%) of secretions from women with breast carcinoma presented a Type II protein pattern. Further studies with a large number of women will be useful for corroborating the potential clinical interest of breast fluid protein analysis.

Topics: Adult; Amino Acid Sequence; Apolipoproteins; Apolipoproteins D; Breast; Breast Diseases; Carrier Proteins; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Female; Glycoproteins; Humans; Lactalbumin; Lactoferrin; Membrane Transport Proteins; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Molecular Weight; Muramidase; Seminal Plasma Proteins; Zn-Alpha-2-Glycoprotein

Monocyte migration, lysozyme production and phagocytosis was studied in 34 patients with fibroadenosis, 28 patients with fibroadenoma and 48 healthy female controls. In patients with fibroadenosis and fibroadenoma, monocyte migration and phagocytic activity were significantly reduced when compared to controls (P less than 0.001). Conversely, lysozyme production by monocytes from patients with benign breast disease was significantly higher than in controls (P less than 0.001). In 20 patients with benign breast disease, there was no significant difference in monocyte function before and 3 months after operation. The observed impairment of monocyte function in fibroadenosis and fibroadenoma would not appear to be the result of abnormal blood biochemistry or due to a direct serum inhibitor, but is probably related to an intrinsic cellular defect. Further studies are required to evaluate the significance of impaired monocyte function in the pathophysiology of benign breast disease.

Topics: Adenofibroma; Adolescent; Adult; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; Female; Fibrocystic Breast Disease; Humans; Middle Aged; Monocytes; Muramidase; Phagocytosis