Significance of K19 mRNA expression in detecting lymph node micrometastasis in patients with rectal cancer

Objective:To evaluate the significance of K19 mRNA expression in diagnosing micrometastasis of regional lymph nodes in patients with rectal cancer.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 221bp and 461bp appeared in all cancer and metastatic lymph nodes tissues.Conclusion:The results suggest that the detection of K19 mRNA might be helpful to diagnose rectal cancer micrometastasis in lymph nodes.K19 mRNA detection by RT-PCR is superior to routine histpathological examination and is a highly sensitive and specific method.