Correlation study of the expression of alpha-fetoprotein mRNA in the peripheral blood and postoperative survival and metastasis of patients with liver cancer / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

[Objective]To explore the correlation of the expression of alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)mRNA in the peripheral blood and postoperative survival and metastasis of patients with liver cancer.[Methods] A total of 66 patients with liver cancer who received radical resection surgery from January 2005to December 2006 was enrolled in this study.The cell total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood and the expression of AFP mRNA was detected by nested PCR.All the patients were followed up for 60 months after surgery.[Results]The expression rate of AFP mRNA in the peripheral blood was 40.91％(27/66).The expression of AFP mRNA in the peripheral blood in patients with liver cancer was significantly related to microvascular invasion and metastasis(P ＜ 0.05 or ＜ 0.01),but the expression had no relationship with sex,age,HBV infection,cirrhosis,AFP concentration,tumour size and number,and Edmondson grading(P＞0.05).The overall 1,2,and ＞ 3 years survival rates of patients with positive AFP mRNA after surgery were 66.7％(18/27),38.9％(7/18),28.6％(2/7),respectively.The overall 1,2,and ≥3 years survival rates of patients with negative AFP mRNA after surgery were 84.6％(33/39),60.6％(20/33),45.0％(9/20).There was statistical significance between the survival rates of AFP mRNA-negative patients and AFP mRNApositive patients(P ＜ 0.01).[Conclusions] The detection of AFP mRNA in the peripheral blood may provide clue for early microscopic metastasis.It can be a prediction index for postoperative recurrence.