Clinical significance of the mRNA expressions of human telomerase tranacriptase and MMP-7 in the peripheral blood of patients with cardia cancer

Objective To detect the expressions of human telomerase tranacriptase (hTERT) and MMP-7 mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with cardia cancer.Methods Total RNA was extracted with TRIzol and was transcribed reversely into cDNA.RT-PCR was used to detect mRNA expression of MMP-7 and hTERT in the peripheral blood of 157 patients with cardia cancer.81 patients without metastasis were followed up for 12 months.Results Of 157 patients,73 cases (46.0 ％) and 61 cases (38.8 ％) had the positive expressions of hTERT,MMP-7,respectively.There were significant correlations between the blood micro-metastases MMP-7 and hTERT expressions and TNM staging (x2 =10.624,14.530),tumor metastasis (x2 =7.294,12.824),and differentiation degree (x2 =12.003,6.482),but no significant correlations were seen in sex (x2 =2.597,0.199) and age (x2 =4.314,0.073).There was statistically significant in the occurrence rate of tumor metastasis between 6-month and 12-month follow-up.The occurrence rate of metastasis in patients with micro-metastases was 6.12-fold compared with patients without micro-metastases after 12-month follow-up.Conclusion Detection of MMP-7 and hTERT expressions can be used as reliable markers to predict peripheral blood micro-metastasis in patients with cardia carcinoma. Key words: Stomach neoplasms;  Human telomerase tranacripyase;  Matrix metalloproteinase; Reverse transcriptosw polymerase chin reaction