Abstract
The one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay is a molecular method used for detecting breast cancer (BC) metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). However, this method has a major disadvantage, since it prevents tissue structure analysis, while only one molecular marker can be evaluated, namely cytokeratin 19 mRNA. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether an OSNA-discarded sample could be suitable for the gene expression analysis of the SLN microenvironment. The remaining intermediate phase of the centrifuged SLN homogenate obtained from the OSNA assay of samples from two patients with BC was used for mRNA extraction. Subsequently, the expression of five genes, namely forkhead box, cluster of differentiation 4 and three control genes, was determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis. The results demonstrated that high-quality RNA was extracted. Therefore, this RNA may be used for gene expression analyses to predict novel molecular biomarkers associated with immuno-inflammatory microenvironment.