Detection of K19 mRNA expression for diagnosis of regional lymph nodes micrometastasis in rectal cancer patients by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

Objective:To study the detection of rectal cancer micrometastasis in regional lymph nodes by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR ) and its application. Methods:Tumor tissues of 19 cases of rectal cancer and 51 lymph nodes were studied by both histopathological examination and K19 mRNA RT-PCR. Results:K19 mRNA expressed in all speciens of 19 patients with rectal cancer, 16 examined lymphm nodes showed positive lymph node metastasis by routine histopathological examination ( 31.4% ) , but the number of positive lymph nodes detected by RT-PCR increased to 21 ( 41.2% ). After K19 and β-actin were amplificated by RT-PCR, the amplification fragments of 221 and 461bp appeared in all cancer and metastatic lymph nodes tissues. Conclusion:K19 mRNA detection by RT-PCR is superior to routine hist pathological examination and is a highly sensitive and specific method.