The detection of MDR1 gene expression using fluorogenic probe quantitative RT-PCR method

Objective: To establish a fluoregenic probe quantitative RT-PCR (FQ-RT-PCR) method for detection of the expression of MDR1 gene in tumor cells and to investigate the expression of MDR1 gene in patients with lung cancer. Methods: The fluorogenic quantitative RT-PCR method for detection of the expression of MDR1 gene was established. K562/ADM and K562 cell lines or 45 tumor tissues from patients with lung cancer were examined on PE Applied Biosystems 7700 Sequence Detection machine. Results: the average levels of MDR1 gene expression in K562/ADM cells and K562 cells were (6.86±0.65)× 10 7 copies/µg RNA and (8.49±0.67)×10 5 copies/µg RNA, respectively. The former was 80.8 times greater than the latter. Each sample was measured 10 times and the coefficient variation (CV) was 9.5% and 7.9%, respectively. Various levels of MDR1 gene expression were detected in 12 of 45 patients with lung cancer. Conclusion: Quantitative detection of MDR1 gene expression in tumor cells was achieved by using FQ-RT-PCR. FQ-RT-PCR is an accurate, and sensitive method and easy to perform. Using this method, low levels of MDR1 gene expression could be detected in 24% of the patients with lung cancer.