title: Quantification of circulating plasma DNA fragments as tumor markers in patients with esophageal cancer.
abstract: The quantity and quality of circulating DNA fragments was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) in plasma from patients with esophageal carcinomas, in order to assess their diagnostic value.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma was collected preoperatively from 24 patients with esophageal cancer and 21 healthy controls. qPCR was performed using two primer sets for the beta-actin gene, amplifying short and long segments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The DNA concentrations in both the short and long assays of esophageal cancer patients were significantly higher than the controls (p<0.001). The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.83 (short) and 0.91 (long) for esophageal cancer patients versus the controls. There was also a significant difference in DNA integrity (short/long) between esophageal cancer patients and the control group (p= 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  qPCR assays for plasma DNA concentrations and their integrity can serve as new diagnostic markers for screening and monitoring patients with esophageal cancer.
authors: Division of Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors: Haruhisa
authors: H
authors: Tomita
authors: Daisuke
authors: D
authors: Ichikawa
authors: Daito
authors: D
authors: Ikoma
authors: Soujin
authors: S
authors: Sai
authors: Nobuyuki
authors: N
authors: Tani
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Ikoma
authors: Hitoshi
authors: H
authors: Fujiwara
authors: Shojiro
authors: S
authors: Kikuchi
authors: Kazuma
authors: K
authors: Okamoto
authors: Toshiya
authors: T
authors: Ochiai
authors: Eigo
authors: E
authors: Otsuji
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm