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International Journal of Colorectal Disease
Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease 3/2009

01-03-2009 | Original Article

The potential of cytokeratin 20 and mucin 2 mRNA as metastasis markers in regional lymph nodes of colon cancer patients investigated by quantitative RT-PCR

Authors: Oddmund Nordgård, Satu Oltedal, Hartwig Kørner, Ole Gunnar Aasprong, Kjersti Tjensvoll, Bjørnar Gilje, Reino Heikkilä

Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease | Issue 3/2009

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Abstract

Purpose

The presence of regional lymph node metastases is one of the most important prognostic factors in colon cancer. Nevertheless, up to 30% of the lymph node negative patients experience disease recurrence. Possibly, this patient group may be identified by more sensitive techniques than routine histopathological examination of the lymph nodes.

Methods

In the present study, we have evaluated the detection of colon cancer lymph node metastases by real-time RT-PCR quantitation of the epithelial-specific cytokeratin 20 (CK20) and mucin 2 (MUC2) mRNAs.

Results

Both assays were able to detect dilutions of tumor cells down to one tumor cell in 106 normal lymphocytes. CK20 and MUC2 mRNA were quantitated in 52 normal lymph nodes from 12 patients undergoing surgery for benign bowel diseases and in 144 primary colon tumors. The median tumor level of both markers were more than 104-fold higher than the highest level in normal lymph nodes, indicating that the markers had a potential for metastasis detection in a clinical context. We applied the assays to 61 lymph nodes with known metastases detected by routine staining. Elevated CK20 or MUC2 mRNA levels were detected in 57 (95%) of the 61 LNs.

Conclusions

Thus, CK20 and MUC2 quantitation by real-time RT-PCR seems to be a promising, sensitive tool to detect metastases in regional lymph nodes from colon cancer patients.
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Metadata
Title
The potential of cytokeratin 20 and mucin 2 mRNA as metastasis markers in regional lymph nodes of colon cancer patients investigated by quantitative RT-PCR
Authors
Oddmund Nordgård
Satu Oltedal
Hartwig Kørner
Ole Gunnar Aasprong
Kjersti Tjensvoll
Bjørnar Gilje
Reino Heikkilä
Publication date
01-03-2009
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
International Journal of Colorectal Disease / Issue 3/2009
Print ISSN: 0179-1958
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1262
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-008-0613-y

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