Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2005, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (5): 280-283.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2005.05.007

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Detection of Cytokeratin 20 mRNA in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Cardial Carcinoma and Its Clinical Implication

WU Chu-cheng;YANG Jie-sheng;CHEN Yu-ping;YANG Wei-ping;XU Li-yan;WENG Hong-rui;LIU Di-tian;LI Hua1   

  1. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tumor Hospital of Shantou University Medical College,Shantou 515041,Guangdong,China
  • Received:2004-09-15 Revised:2004-12-19 Online:2005-09-30 Published:2005-09-30
  • Contact: YANG Jie-sheng

Abstract: BACKGROUND & AIM: To study the detection of micrometastasis in peripheral blood of patients with cardial carcinoma and its clinical implication. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cytokeratin 20(CK20) mRNA in peripheral blood of 58 patients with cardial carcinoma was detected by using nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. RESULTS: The positive rate of CK20 mRNA in peripheral blood of the 58 patients was 36.2%. The positive rate of CK20 mRNA in patients with lymph node metastasis was 51.5%, while 16% in patients without lymph node metastasis, the two rates were significantly different. CONCLUSION: Using nested RT-PCR technique to detect CK20 mRNA in peripheral blood of patients with cardial carcinoma is helpful for early diagnosis of micrometastasis, the positive expression is related to metastasis of lymph node.

Key words: cardial carcinoma, micrometastasis, cytokeratin 20, peripheral blood