Significance of CK20 mRNA expression in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer patients by real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR / 浙江大学学报·医学版

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect the expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA in peripheral blood of colorectal carcinoma and to discuss its clinical value.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the CK20 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood of 51 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 30 healthy volunteers.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>27.45% of the patients showed CK20 mRNA expression, while it was 6.67% for the control group (P<0.025). With the progress of Dukes' stages, the expression level of CK20 mRNA increased, but there was no statistic significance (P<0.05). More samples in Dukes'C and D than in Dukes'A and B stages showed >10 copies/ml.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The detection of CK20 mRNA expression in peripheral blood of patients with colorectal carcinoma may be helpful to identify early shedding tumor cells. It is also useful to monitor the progression of the disease and observe the effect of clinical treatment.</p>