Expression and clinical significance of cytokeratin 19 in bone narrow of patients with breast cancer

Objective: To evaluate expression and clinical significance of cytokeratin19(CK19) in bone marrow of patients with breast cancer.Methods: Expression of CK19mRNA in bone marrows of 48 breast cancer patients sand 20 benign breast disease patients were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Correlation of CK19mRNA expression to clinicopathologic features of the 48 breast cancer patients was analyzed.At the same time,expression of carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) and CA153 in blood of 48 breast cancer patient sand 20 benign breast disease patients were measured by electrochemiluminescence immuneoassay(ECLIA).Results: Positive rate of CK19mRNA was 31.25% in the 48 breast cancer patients,and 0 in the 20 benign breast disease patients.Expression of CK19mRNA was positively correlated with clinical stage(P0.05),but was not related to age and lymph node status(P0.05).In addition,positive rate of CK19mRNA was positively correlated with CEA(r=0.329,P=0.002) and CA153(r=0.312,P=0.002) in peripheral blood.Conclusions: CK19mRNA may be used as a molecular marker to detect bone marrow micrometastasis in patients with breast cancer.The detection may help to select proper therapy and predict prognosis of breast cancer patients.