CK20mRNA, CEAmRNA Expression In Peripheral And Portal Venous Blood Of Patients With Gastrointestinal Carcinoma And Its Clinical Significance

Objective: To study the expression of CEA, CK20mRNA in the peripheral and portal venous blood from patients with gastrointestinal carcinoma, and to explore its clinical significance. Methods: Peripheral venous blood (30min before operation) and portal venous blood (during operation) samples were collected from 34 gastrointestinal carcinoma patients, and 10 control blood samples were taken from benign patients. RT-PCR assay was applied to detect the expression of CEA, CK20mRNA. Results: The positive ratio of CEAmRNA expression in peripheral and portal venous blood with gastrointestinal carcinoma patients was 26% (9/34) and 53% (18/34), and CK20mRNA positivity was 0/34 (0%) and 0/34 (0%) respectively. Neither positive was detected in controls. CEAmRNA tended to be more sensitive than CK20mRNA. All 5 patients with at least one positive for CEAmRNA both in the peripheral and portal venous blood appeared recurrence within 10 months. The CEAmRNA expression was not correlated with sex, age, depth of invasion, clinical pathologic stage, but correlated with lymph metastasis and differentiation. Conclusion: CEA mRNA and CK20mRNA as markers for detecting micrometastasis, recurrence, assessing the prognosis needed to be further studied.