title: Detection of occult tumor cells in peripheral blood from patients with small cell lung cancer by promoter methylation and silencing of the retinoic acid receptor-beta.
abstract: In order to investigate the possibility of detecting occult tumor cells of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), we used the methylation-specific PCR assay to detect methylation of retinoic acid receptor-beta (RARbeta) in peripheral mononuclear cells (PMNC). The methylation-specific PCR assay can detect one tumor cell per 10(3) normal cells. Seventy-two patients participated in this study. They received an initial full-dose of combination chemotherapy for SCLC between October 1995 and June 2000. The patients were classified according to the clinical stage of their tumors as limited disease (LD) in 31 patients and extensive disease (ED) in 41. PMNC were obtained before each patient underwent chemotherapy. We detected RARbeta methylation in PMNC from 42 of the 72 SCLC patients (58.3%). Nineteen of 31 patients with LD-SCLC (61.3%) and 23 of 41 patients with ED-SCLC (56.1%) were positive for RARbeta methylation. The overall survival for patients who were positive and negative for RARbeta methylation was not significantly different in both the LD- and ED-SCLC groups (log-rank test, p=0.13 and p=0.38, respectively); however, 2-year survival was significantly greater in the RARbeta methylation-positive LD-SCLC patients (chi(2) test, p=0.044). In conclusion, occult tumor cells can be detected in the peripheral blood of patients with SCLC using methylation of RARbeta, and long-term survival appears to be better in LD-SCLC patients with occult tumor cells in their blood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Oncology, Kanagawa Cancer Center, Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama 241-0815, Japan. foshita@msa.biglobe.ne.jp
authors.forename: Fumihiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oshita
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sekiyama
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Mizuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikehara
authors.forename: Kouzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Haruhiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyagi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D019175:DNA Methylation; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011379:Prognosis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; C082925:retinoic acid receptor beta