title: Distinguishing pancreatic carcinoma from other periampullary carcinomas by analysis of mutations in the Kirsten-ras oncogene.
abstract: The prevalence of Kirsten (Ki)-ras gene mutations was studied in 105 paraffin-embedded tissues obtained from 40 patients with pancreatic cancer, 48 with bile duct carcinoma (19 distal, 6 middle, and 23 proximal), 16 with ampullary carcinoma and 1 with duodenal cancer, by in vitro amplification of target sequences by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). With regard to pancreatic cancers, the authors' data confirm the very high frequency (88.6%) of Ki-ras gene mutations occurring at codon 12. Five pancreatic carcinomas did not contain the Ki-ras mutation and included rare types of histopathology. By histologic review after the examination of Ki-ras mutations through PCR, the diagnosis of four patients could be legitimately revised from other periampullary carcinoma to pancreatic carcinoma. In the ampullary carcinoma, the prevalence of mutations in Ki-ras codon 12 was 13.3%. Although there was a large difference in incidence of mutations between distal and middle or proximal bile duct carcinoma, the prevalence of mutations in bile duct carcinoma was limited to 19.6%. Unlike other approaches to diagnose periampullary carcinoma, detection of a mutation in Ki-ras codon 12 by PCR may distinguish pancreatic carcinoma from other periampullary carcinomas that have better prognoses.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Motojima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanematsu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urano
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiku
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014670:Ampulla of Vater; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D003138:Common Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004379:Duodenal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D011905:Genes, ras / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction