Zeta’s recombinant rabbit monoclonal antibody binds Mammaglobin, a cytoplasmic protein which is a mammary-specific member of the uteroglobin family. Mammaglobin is a sensitive and very specific marker for breast carcinoma. By paraffin immunohistochemistry, the overall sensitivity of mammaglobin for breast cancers was reported about 80%. When combined with other breast-restricted markers such as GCDFP-15, an overall sensitivity of 84% could be achieved . Mammaglobin can play a contributing role in the identification of primary sites of carcinomas presenting at metastatic sites. Up to 15% of nonbreast carcinomas (such as stomach, lung, colon, hepatobiliary, thyroid, ovarian, and urothelial carcinomas) have been reported positive, but typically only focally. When a panel approach is taken, the panel typically also include GCDFP-15 and Estrogen receptor alpha.
Mammaglobin A is encoded by the gene SCGB2A2 was initially described in 1998 to be expressed in malignant breast tissue but not matched normal tissue. Amongst more than 20 secretoglobins, mammaglobin A belongs to the uteroglobin protein family including prostatein and Clara cell protein. Unfortunately, a distinct mammaglobin mode-of-action remains elusive.
Interestingly, mammaglobin A has been demonstrated to undergo covalent binding with another secretoglobin lipophilin B. The mammaglobin A/lipophilin B complex has been observed in the peripheral circulation of breast cancer patients and hence gained the consideration of a serological marker for breast cancer.
Mammaglobin is a breast-associated glycoprotein distantly related to secretoglobin family that includes human uteroglobin and lipophilin. Unlike other secretoglobin family members, mammaglobin mRNA expression is breast specific, which has been shown to be a very sensitive marker of occult breast cancer cells in sentinel lymph nodes and peripheral blood.
In a pioneering study on the tissue expression signature of mammaglobin protein in malignancies conducted in 2023, more than 16,328 samples derived from 128 distinct tumor types have been investigated by immunohistochemistry. Mammaglobin A was observed in malignancies of breast, endometrium, ovary, and salivary glands.