A study on the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA in tissues specimens by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in patients with digestive tract carcinoma

Purpose:To evaluate the differences in expression of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA (CEA mRNA) in various tissues and its use in the diagnosis of digestive tract carcinoma.Methods:There were 35 patients with digestive tract carcinoma and 12 patients with non carcinoma disease in the study. The expression of CEA mRNA in the digestive tract tissues specimens was detected with nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction(RT PCR). A contrast test was detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in blood sepcimen with enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results:The expression of CEA mRNA in cancer tissues with RT PCR was 29 (82.86%) with positive results and that of CEA in blood with ELISA was 15 (42.86%) in the patients with digestive tract carcinoma. The difference in positive results was significant ( P 0.01) between CEA mRNA and CEA. There were 4 positive results of CEA mRNA in 35 normal tissues around the carcinoma tissue and 1 positive result of CEA mRNA in 12 non carcinoma tissues with RT PCR in the contrast specimens the non carcinoma tissues and the normal tissues around the carcinoma tissues. The specificity was 91.67% and the sensitivity was 82.86% on the expression of CEA mRNA for detection of digestive tract carcinoma.Conclusions:CEA mRNA is a useful and better index for laboratory diagnosis of digestive tract carcinoma. The index of CEA mRNA with RT PCR is suitable for routine use. [