title: Microsatellite analysis in serum DNA as a diagnostic tool for distinction of patients with unknown pancreatic masses.
abstract: The clinical distinction between cancer and chronic pancreatitis is difficult in patients with pancreatic masses. To test whether detection of aberrant serum DNA could assist in this important differential diagnosis, we tested a panel of 12 microsatellitemarkers from chromosomes 17p, 17q, 13q, 9p, 5q, and 2p in the blood of 35 pancreatic cancer patients, 22 patients with chronic pancreatitis, and 20 healthy individuals. An average of 2.8 loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was found in 32 of 35 cancer patients of whom 30 (86%) had 2 or more LOH. LOH was also found in 7 of 22 pancreatitis patients but all these patients had only 1 LOH. No LOH was detected in healthy donors of comparable age. These data suggest that LOH analysis may be a substantial help for diagnosing pancreatic masses. An extension of the panel, perhaps in combination with a better selection of markers may further improve this assay.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. rwachowiak@gmx.de
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wachowiak
authors.forename: Jussuf
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaifi
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schwarzenbach
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yekebas
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Merkert
authors.forename: Paulus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schurr
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Reichelt
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Strate
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pantel
authors.forename: Jakob R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Izbicki
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D004247:DNA / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004247:DNA