ABSTRACT
Objective: To detect the abnormal expression of WWOX (WW domain containing oxidoreduc-tase) exons 6-8 at mRNA level in human benign and malignant pleural effusion and to investigate the role of loss of WWOX exons 6-8 in the development of malignant pleural effusion. Methods; Deletion of WWOX ex-ons 6-8 mRNA transcript was analyzed by reverse transcriptase-PCR technology. Results: Of the 56 malig-nant pleural effusion samples, 39 showed loss of WWOX exons 6-8 mRNA transcript (69.6%). This deletion was not detected in the 20 benign pieural effusion samples. Conclusion: WWOX gene may play an important role in the develepment of malignant Neural effusion, Detection of WWOX exons 6-8 mRNA may serve as a candidate molecular target for treatment of malignant pleural effusion and can be a promising index in differen-tial diagnosis of benign and malignant pleural effusion.