title: Quantification of plasma beta-catenin mRNA in colorectal cancer and adenoma patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Colorectal cancer is an important cause of cancer deaths. Here, we focused our investigation on the beta-catenin gene which is implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis and tested whether beta-catenin mRNA is detectable in the plasma of colorectal carcinoma and adenoma patients using quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma beta-catenin mRNA was measured from 58 colorectal carcinoma patients, 49 colorectal adenoma patients, and 43 apparently normal subjects using intron-spanning primers and Taqman probes. Five clinicopathological parameters were studied and correlated with plasma beta-catenin mRNA concentration. Additionally, 19 colorectal carcinoma patients after tumor removal were also recruited for plasma beta-catenin mRNA measurement to further demonstrate the clinical usefulness of this test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  beta-catenin mRNA was detected with median concentrations of 8737 (range: 1480-933100), 1218 (range: 541-2254) and 291 (range: 0-1366) copies/ml plasma in colorectal carcinoma, colorectal adenoma, and apparently normal subjects, respectively. Statistical analysis demonstrated that plasma beta-catenin mRNA concentration was correlated to tumor stage but not sex, age, lymph node status, and degree in differentiation. Moreover, plasma beta-catenin mRNA concentration decreased significantly after tumor removal in 16 of 19 (84%) colorectal carcinoma patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that plasma beta-catenin mRNA may potentially serve as a marker for colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. cesar01@netvigator.com
authors.forename: Sze Chuen Cesar
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Siu Fong Elena
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Moon Tong
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Kai On Enders
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Chun Wah
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.forename: Bo San Paul
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: King Chung
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y M Dennis
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001483:Base Sequence; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin