Detection of micrometastasis by cytokeratin 20 rt-pcr is limited due to stable background transcription in granulocytes

ABSTRACT The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA is considered a promising candidate method for the detection of circulating

tumour cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood of cancer patients. In this study we have investigated the diagnostic specificity of the CK20 mRNA detection in samples from healthy donors

(HD; _n_ = 33), intensive care units patients (ICU; _n_ = 20) and bone marrow obtained from patients suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases (CID; _n_ = 14). RNAs purified from

stabilized lysates showed positive results in 24% of the HD group (8/33), 35% of the ICU group (8/20) and in 40% of the CID group (5/14). The use of Ficoll gradients to separate nucleated

cells completely restored the specificity of this CK20 RT-PCR assay. The CK20-expressing cells are positively identified to belong to the granulocyte fraction of leucocytes, which appear to

express the gene on a background level. Our results demonstrate for the first time that CK20 mRNA expression is not limited to epithelium. Its occurrence in normal granulocytes has to be

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reaction for cytokeratin 20. _Int J Cancer_ 79: 288–293. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Clinical Chemistry,

University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, 20246, Germany R Jung, K Petersen, C Wagener & M Neumaier * Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg,

20246, Germany W Krüger & A Zander * Department of Medical Clinic, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, 20246, Germany M Wolf Authors * R Jung View author publications You can also

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ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Jung, R., Petersen, K., Krüger, W. _et al._ Detection of micrometastasis by cytokeratin 20 RT-PCR is limited due to stable background transcription in granulocytes.

_Br J Cancer_ 81, 870–873 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6690778 Download citation * Received: 25 January 1999 * Revised: 12 May 1999 * Accepted: 13 May 1999 * Published: 15 October

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micrometastasis * cytokeratin 20 * standardization * background transcription