title: Detection of disseminated cancer cells in bone marrow of gastric cancer using real time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: Bone marrow is a prognostically relevant indicator organ for micrometastasis. In the present study, real time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect disseminated gastric cancer cells in bone marrow. We compared CEA, CK18 and CK20 expression using four gastric cancer cell lines and three normal tissue cell lines in order to select the most appropriate marker for detection of disseminated gastric cancer cell in bone marrow. CK20 proved to be the most promising marker since the expression level of normal cell lines was extremely low and about 50--100-fold differences were found between gastric carcinoma cell lines and normal tissue cell lines. We also screened bone-marrow RNA of 47 patients with gastric cancers, using this system. Among the three markers we tested, with only about CK20 could we find that 27 of 47 patients were positive. Though long-term clinical follow up studies are needed to evaluate the clinical significance of this method, real time quantitative RT-PCR is sensitive and quantitative for detection of micrometastasis in bone marrow.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Kyushu University Hospital: Kyushu University Hospital, 3-1-1, Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. okieiji@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oki
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maehara
authors.forename: Eriko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibahara
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasuda
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kakeji
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimachi
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000556:secondary*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D019046:Bone Marrow Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000556:secondary*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D053554:Keratin-20; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017931:DNA Primers; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; C507499:KRT20 protein, human; D053554:Keratin-20; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D007633:Keratins