Clinical significance of CK19 and hMAM mRNA detection in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients by real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR

Objective To detect the expression of Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and human mammaglobin (hMAM) mRNA in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients dynamically and to evaluate its clinical significance.Methods The expression of CK19 and hMAM mRNA was evaluated by real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptase pelymerase chain reaction in the peripheral blood of 40 breast cancer patients and 10 healthy volunteers.Results The expression of CK19 and hMAM in the peripheral blood of 40 breast cancer patients were higher than healthy donors.The positive expression rate of CK19 and hMAM was descending tendency during treatment.The different staging expression rate had no differences between before treatment and during treatment,but after treatment the expression rate had remarkably differences (CK19:P=0.044;hMAM:P=0.005).If the expression of CK19 and hMAM was continual positive,the rate of recurrence and metastasis would be higher (P＜0.001).Coneluslons Real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR may detect the expression of CK19 and hMAM in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients,and it is a sensitive and specific technique.The resuits suggest a possible use of this approach for evaluating prognosis,monitoring recurrence. Key words: Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR; CK19; hMAM; Breast cancer