Similar articles

Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic significance of detecting cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in benign and malignant pleural effusions. Methods: CK19 mRNA was examined by quantitative RT-PCR and CK19 was detected by Enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) in 32 patients with malignant pleural effusions and 35 patients with benign pleural effusions. Results: On the threshold of 200 copies/μl, the positive rate of CK19 mRNA in patients with malignant pleural effusions was 62.5%. The positive rates of CK19 mRNA and CK19 in the malignant pleural effusions were significantly higher than those in the benign group (P<0.01). Furthermore, the positive rate of CK19 mRNA was higher than that of CK19 in the malignant group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Detection of CK19 mRNA can be a promising diagnostic marker in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pleural effusions.

[1] Kao, R.H., Huang, L.C., 2002. High false-positive rate of cytokeratin-19 in detecting circulating tumor cells for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Chang Gung Med J, 25(4):238-44.

[2] Lockett, M.A., Baron, P.L., O’Brien, P.H., Elliott, B.M., Robison, J.G., Maitre, N., Metcalf, J.S., Cole, D.J., 1998. Detection of occult breast cancer micrometastases in axillary lymph nodes using a multimarker reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction panel. J Am Coll Surg, 187(1):9-16.

[3] Mori, M., Mimori, K., Ueo, H., Karimine, N., Barnard, G.F., Sugimachi, K., 1996. Molecular detection of circulating solid carcinoma cells in the peripheral blood: the concept of early systemic disease. Int J cancer, 68(5):739-743.

[4] Noguchi, S., Aihara, T., Motomura, K., Inaji, H., Imaoka, S., Koyama, H., 1996. Histologic characteristics of breast cancer with occult lymph node metastases detected by cytokeratin 19 mRNA reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Cancer, 78(5):1235-1240.

[5] Wong, L.S., Cantrill, J.E., Odogwu, S., Morris, A.G., Fraser, I.A., 1997. Detection of circulating tumor cells and nodal metastasis by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique. Br J Surg, 84(6):834-839.

[6] Wong, I.H., Yeo, W., Chan, A.T., Johnson, P.J., 2001. Quantitative relationship of the circulating tumor burden assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for cytokeratin 19 mRNA in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer patients with Dukes’ stage, serum carcinoembryonic antigen leveland tumor progression. Cancer Letters, 162 (1):65-73.

[7] Xu, F., Zhang, X.H., Chen, J., Xia, J.Y., Zhang, X., Shen, H.H., 2003. Detection of cytokeratin 19 mRNA by quantitative RT-PCR for differentiating the characteristic of pleural effusions. Chinese Journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, 26(8):501-502 (in Chinese).

[8] Yuan, C.C., Wang, P.H., Ng, H.T., Li, Y.F., Huang, T.S., Chen, C.Y., Tsai, L.C., 2002. Detecting cytokeratin 19 mRNA in the peripheral blood cells of cervical cancer patients and its clinical-pathological correlation. Gynecol Oncol, 85(1):148-153.