Gross Cystic Disease Fluid Protein-15 (GCDFP-15) (Brst-2) Description
Gross cystic disease fluid is a pathologic secretion from breast composed of several glycoproteins, including GCDFP-15. It is considered to be a marker of apocrine differentiation. Numerous studies have shown GCDFP-15 (BRST-2) to be a specific marker for breast cancer in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues and in cytologic preparation (fine needle aspirates). Studies on breast cancer have shown, with respect to specificity and sensitivity, an overall rating of 95% and 74% respectively. Another study was conducted on fine needle aspirates and statistics showed that 56.5% of primary and recurrent or metastatic breast carcinomas were expressed with GCDFP-15. Other types of tissues that express GCDFP-15 are axillary sweat glands and submandibular salivary glands.