Gene diagnosis and clinical significance of micrometastases in lymph nodes, peri pheral blood and bone marrow in non-small-cell lung cancer patients

Purpose:To explore the clinical significance of gene diagnosis in detecting micrometastases in lymph node,peripheral blood and bone marrow from non-small-cell lung cancer patients and the correlation to e ach other. Methods:The MUC1 mRNA expression was detected in lymph nodes, p eripheral blood and bone marrow from 31 lung cancer putients and 10 benign pμlm onary lesion patients by nested RT-PCR. Results:The sensitivity of the the RT-PCR technique was 10 -6 in this study. The positive rates of MUC1 mRNA were 54.6%, 32.3% and 22.6% in lymph nodes , peripheral blood and bone marrow from lung cancer patients resp ectively , and highly correlation existed among the three groups(P0.05). T he micrometastases in peripheral blood and bone marrow were closely related to t he pathological classification, cell differentiation of the cancer and P-TNM st age of the disease (P0.05). Conclusions:RT-PCR technique is a specific and sensitive metho d to detect micrometastases in patients with lung cancer. MUC1 mRNA might be a v aluable marker to detect micrometastases in lung cancer patients. It can also pr ovide important clinical information for the evaluation of prognosis and in the selection of appropriate treatment strategies.