title: Detection of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood from patients with gastric cancer using piRNAs as markers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the feasibility of detecting circulating cancer cells in peripheral blood from gastric cancer patients using Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) as markers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze piR-651 and piR-823 levels in the peripheral blood of 93 patients with gastric cancer and 32 healthy volunteers. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the diagnostic values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The peripheral blood levels of piR-651 and piR-823 in the patients with gastric cancer were significantly lower than those from controls (P<0.001). The piR-651 level in gastric adenocarcinoma was higher than that in gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (P = 0.003). The piR-823 level was positively associated with tumor-node-metastasis stage (P = 0.027) and distant metastasis (P = 0.026). The areas under the ROC curve were 0.841, 0.812 and 0.860 for piR-651, piR-823 and the combination, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  piRNAs may be valuable biomarkers for detecting circulating gastric cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China; Affiliated Hospital and Ningbo No. 1 Hospital, Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315000, China.
authors.forename: Yanru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China; Affiliated Hospital, Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Xinjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China.
authors.forename: Haojun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China.
authors.forename: Xiuchong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China. Electronic address: xiaobingxiu@nbu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bingxiu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China; Affiliated Hospital, Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo 315211, China. Electronic address: junmingguo@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Junming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering