Detection of malignant cells in pleural fluid or ascites by CD44v8-10/CD44v10 competitive RT-PCR.
BACKGROUND
CD44 is a cell surface adhesion molecule which has been implicated in various biologic functions as lymphocyte homing and activation, cellular migration and extracellular matrix adhesion. Over-expression of CD44v8-10 has been found in several cancers and is considered to be associated with tumor progression and metastasis. Recently, a novel molecular method, CD44v8-10/CD44v10 competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) has been developed for detecting cancer cells over-expressing CD44v8-10.


METHODS
We analyzed from benign and malignant pleural effusion and ascites by CD44 competitive RT-PCR and compared to the conventional cytology.


RESULTS
The CD44 competitive RT-PCR analysis showed that all the 24 samples associated with benign disease presented a predominant expression of the CD44v10 transcript (v8-10/v10 ratio: 0.126-0.948), whereas 6 of 7 malignant pleural samples associated with cytology positive cancer expressed the CD44v8-10 transcript (v8-10/v10 ratio > 1.00).


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that CD44 competitive RT-PCR assay is a useful and adjunct to cytological examination in cancer diagnosis, especially in detecting exfoliated cancer cells in pleural effusion.
Ahn
M J
MJ
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University.
Noh
Y H
YH
Yoon
H J
HJ
Yang
S C
SC
Sohn
J W
JW
Choi
J H
JH
Lee
Y Y
YY
Choi
I Y
IY
Kim
I S
IS
Lee
Y S
YS
Park
C K
CK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001201:Ascites / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
C117722:CD44v10 antigen; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors