关键词: 角蛋白, 肿瘤转移, 逆转录聚合酶链反应

Abstract: Objective To evaluate the nested-reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction（nested-RT-PCR） for detection of cytokeratin 18 mRNA（CK18 mRNA）in diagnosis of micrometastasis in esophageal cancer and its clinical significance. Methods Nested-RT-PCR was used to detect the expressions of CK18 mRNA in the rib marrow of 50 esophageal carcinoma patients without distal metastasis(experimental group)，10 esophageal carcinoma patients with distal metastasis，10 benign esophageal disease patients. Results CK18 mRNA was not detected in benign esophageal disease patients.In the rib marrow of 50 esophageal carcinoma patients without distal metastasis and 10 esophageal carcinoma patients with distal metastasis, the positive expression rates of CK18 mRNA were 42.0%（21/50） and 100%（10/10）,respectively. The positive rate in stage Ⅳ of esophagenal cancer （100%） was significantly higher than those in stage Ⅱa（40％）, stage Ⅱb（41.7％） and stage Ⅲ（45.8%）（P＜0.05）. But there were no significant differences between stage Ⅱa, stage Ⅱb and stage Ⅲ（P＞0.05）. The positive rates in pathological types Ⅰ，Ⅱ,and Ⅲ were 41.7％,41.7％,and 42.9％, there were no significant differences between various pathological types（P＞0.05）. Conclusion In the early stage of esophageal cancer, the cancer cells have already metastasized. It is helpful to use Nested-RT-PCR to detect the expression of CK18 mRNA in the rib marrow in early diagnosis of tumor micrometastasis.

Key words: keratin, neoplasms metastasis, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction