Detection of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA and human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) mRNA in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients and its significance / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose:To detect the expression of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA and human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) mRNA in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients. Methods:We used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to determine the expression of CK19 and HPV16 mRNA of 30 cervical cancer patients,8 patients with known distant metastases,16 patients with benign gynecological tumors and 9 healthy persons as control. Results:The presence of CK19 mRNA was observed in 3 peripheral blood samples among 30 cervical cancer patients (10%). The positive ratios for cervical patients with metastases,benign tumors and healthy control were 8/8,0/16 and 0/9. Only 10 cervical samples were proved to be HPV 16 positive by immunohistochemistry and/or hybridization in situ,whose expression of HPV16 mRNA in the peripheral blood were all negative (0/10). The positive ratios for cervical patients with metastasis,benign tumors and healthy control were 1/8,0/16 and 0/9,respectively. Conclusions:CK19 mRNA may be considered a powerful biomarker in the detection of peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients due to its high sensitivity and specificity. The detection of HPV16 mRNA was low and its clinical significance needs further evaluation.