A prospective study of detection of pancreatic carcinoma by combined plasma K-ras mutations and serum CA19-9 analysis.
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.
Dianxu
Feng
F
Department of Surgery, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China. fdianxu@sohu.com
Shengdao
Zhang
Z
Tianquan
Han
H
Yu
Jiang
J
Ruoqing
Lei
L
Zurong
Yuan
Y
Xuezhi
Wang
W
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
D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D004247:DNA