title: A prospective study of detection of pancreatic carcinoma by combined plasma K-ras mutations and serum CA19-9 analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have demonstrated the possibility of detecting K mutations in the plasma of patients with pancreatic carcinoma.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the diagnostic value of combined plasma K mutations with serum CA19-9 in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 58 consecutive patients with suspected pancreatic masses and 21 healthy controls. DNA was extracted from plasma. Point mutation at codon 12 of K gene was analyzed by means of the enriched polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No mutated K codon 12 was detected in the plasma DNA from the 21 healthy controls. Mutations of K codon 12 were found in plasma DNA samples from 29 (70.7%) of 41 patients with pancreatic carcinoma. Elevated CA19-9 was found in 30 (73.2%) of 41 pancreatic cancer patients. In total, 37 of 41 (90.2%) patients with pancreatic carcinoma tested positive by either method. Mutated K was also found in 3 patients and elevated CA19-9 in 8 of the 17 patients with other lesions in the pancreatic area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicate that plasma K mutation analysis combined with serum CA19-9 determination could detect the majority of cases of pancreatic carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China. fdianxu@sohu.com
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dianxu
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shengdao
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tianquan
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ruoqing
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zurong
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xuezhi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017354:Point Mutation
chemical_list: D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D004247:DNA