RESUMO
Objective To detect the expression of CK19 in sentinel lymph node for breast cancer and to evaluate its clinical significance.Methods SLNs of 30 patients with breast cancer were successfully detected with methylene blue,both SLN and ALN were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining ( HK staining). The expression level of CK19 in SLNs were assessed by RT-PCR and Western Blot for mRNA and Protein respectively. Results Detection positive rate of SLN melastases was 26. 67% (8/30) by HE staining,and 1 case of false negative. Through RT-PCR,12 cases,including all the positive cases detected by routine pathological examination,were detected to be positive in the expression of CK19mRNA, with a positive rate of 40. 0% ( 12/30) , and a positive rate of 36. 67% (11/30) for CK19 was observed by Western Blot There was a significant difference between RT-PCR or Western Blot methods and routine pathological examination ( P < 0.05 ) for the detection efficiency of SI.Ns melastases. Conclusions CK19rnRNA may be a potential tumor marker for detecting micrometastasis in SLNs of breast cancer. The combined utilization of locating SLNs and detecting CK19 mRNA expression by RT-PCR instead of histopathological examination can greatly enhance the detection efficiency of SLN micrometastasis of breast cancer.