Burchill, SA, Bradbury, MF, Pittman, K et al. (3 more authors) (1995) Detection of epithelial cancer cells in peripheral blood by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. British Journal of Cancer, 71 (2). pp. 278-281. ISSN 0007-0920
Abstract
Circulating cancer cells in the blood play a central role in the metastatic process. Their number can be very small and techniques for their detection need to be both sensitive and specific. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been successfully used to detect small numbers of tumour cells in haematological cancer in which abnormalities in DNA are sufficiently consistent to make this possible. For most solid tumours this not yet feasible. However, we have found that reverse transcriptase (RT)-PRC for tissue-specific gene expression is a useful technique for identifying small numbers of circulating cells in melanoma and neuroblastoma patients. In this report we describe detection of colon carcinoma cells by RT-PCR using CK 20 mRNA as a marker. Unlike other cytokeratin genes examined (CK 8 and CK 19), CK 20 was not transcribed in normal haematopoietic cells. This suggests a role for RT-PCR in the detection of colon carcinoma metastasis in blood and bone marrow, using CK 20 as the target gene. Future analysis of clinical material will determine the clinical significance of this technique.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 1995 Stockton Press. This is article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License. |
Keywords: | cytokeratins; colon carcinoma; epithelial cells; RT-PCR |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > Institute of Molecular Medicine (LIMM) (Leeds) > Section of Experimental Oncology (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology (LICAP) > Section of Experimental Oncology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2016 08:08 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2016 08:08 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1995.56 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cancer Research UK |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/bjc.1995.56 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:99139 |