The clinical significance on the detection of CEA mRNA and CK19 mRNA in blood of patients with Non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA(CEA mRNA) and cytokeratin 19 mRNA(CK19 mRNA) in the monitoring blood metastasis and the assessing prognosis of NSCLC.Methods Blood samples were from 97 cases of NSCLC(NSCLC group),51 cases of benign pulmonary disease(disease control group) and 36 cases of healthy persons(healthy control group).CEA mRNA and CK19 mRNA in blood were detected by reverse transcriptase-nested primers-polymerase chain reaction.Results The positive result of CK19 mRNA and CEA mRNA in blood of the NSCLC group were far higher than that of the other two groups(P0.01).The specificity and sensitivity of CEA mRNA were higher than that of CK19 mRNA (P0.01).The survival cases in 24 months of the negative result were much more than the positive result in the NSCLC group(P0.01～0.05).Conclusion The detection of CEA mRNA and CK19 mRNA in blood are useful index for to discover blood metastasis and to assess prognosis of NSCLC,in them,CEA mRNA is more sensitive than CK19 mRNA(P0.01).