Clinical significance of MUC1 and c-Met RT-PCR detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with gastric carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Recently, several reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques have been proven to be useful in the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer patients. We attempted to detect CTCs in patients with gastric cancer (GC) using a RT-PCR assay for c-Met and MUC1 and to evaluate their clinical value.


METHODS
Using a RT-PCR assay, c-Met and MUC1 mRNAs were amplified in 52 GC patients and 36 healthy individuals. Analyses were carried out for their correlation with the patients' clinicopathologic features, the occurrence of new post-operative metastasis, as well as the overall survival rates.


RESULTS
In the RT-PCR analysis of peripheral blood, 61.5% (32/52) and 71.2% (37/52) of GC patients were positive for c-Met and MUC1 mRNA, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of either mRNA detected in peripheral blood is 82.7% and 86.1%, respectively, with an accuracy of 84.1%. The detection of c-Met or MUC1 mRNA was significantly correlated with the depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastases, TNM stage, vessel invasion, perineural involvement, and post-operative metastasis (all P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the overall survival rate of patients with positive c-Met or MUC1 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood was significantly shorter than in patients negative for c-Met or MUC1 mRNA expression (both P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that using RT-PCR for the detection of c-Met or MUC1 mRNA may be a promising tool for the early detection of micro-metastatic CTCs in GC patients. Combination of these 2 tumor-specific mRNA markers would increase the detection rate and may be clinically helpful in predicting the outcome in GC patients.
Uen
Yih-Huei
YH
Department of Surgery, Chi-Mei Hospital, Tainan, and Department of Clinical Laboratory, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
Lin
Shiu-Ru
SR
Wu
Chan-Han
CH
Hsieh
Jan-Sing
JS
Lu
Chien-Yu
CY
Yu
Fang-Jung
FJ
Huang
Tsung-Jen
TJ
Wang
Jaw-Yuan
JY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018396:Mucin-1; D009077:Mucins / Q000235:genetics*; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D015996:Survival Rate
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; C060192:MUC1 protein, human; D018396:Mucin-1; D009077:Mucins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met