乳腺癌患者术后腋窝引流液中C-met mRNA检测的意义

BACKGROUND & AIM: To study the significance of C-met mRNA in axillary drainage after operations for breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: RT-PCR assay was used to examine the expression of C-met mRNA and human glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (hGAPDH) in axillary drainage after operations in 32 cases of breast cancer, The relationship between the expression of C-met and the tumor size and the numbers of lymph nodes metastasis and the Estrogen receptor (ER) and Progesterone receptor (PR) status was analyzed. RESULTS: ① The overall positive expression rate of C-met in axillary lymphatic drainage was 84.38%, which was higher than that in routine pathological method of the axillary lymph nodes to detect micrometastasis (P＜0.05), and the positive cases of C-met expression were correlated with the numbers of metastatic lymph nodes. ② Positive cases for C-met expression were correlated with the tumor size (P＜0.01). ③ C-met negative cases showed the tendency of negative correlations with ER and PR negative cases. CONCLUSION: Detection of C-met mRNA in axillary drainage after operation for breast cancer using RT-PCR, the positive cases suggest existence of micrometastasis of cancer cells in the lymphatic of chest wall of breast cancer patients arid there was a potential of recurrence and metastasis. The study suggests that it could be earlier and more accurate to detect micrometastasis using RT-PCR of the axillary lymphatic drainage for C-met expression in the axillary fluids than routine pathological method on the axillary lymph nodes.