Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

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.
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PMID:Detection of epithelial cancer cells in peripheral blood by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. 753 Sep 83

We studied the metastatic properties of human tumor cells and tumor cell dissemination in a xenograft tumor model for human colorectal carcinoma in athymic rats which shows a reproducible pattern of metastases similar to the clinical situation. Such a model is also attractive for evaluating several therapeutic approaches. The tumor cell lines HT-29 and WiDr which are derived from the same colorectal tumor and exhibit a similar tumorigenic potential after subcutaneous injection were injected into the portal venous system of 4-week-old male nude rats. After injection of WiDr cells no liver metastases were observed; however, 50% of the rats developed liver metastases 4-12 weeks after injection of HT-29. Immunostaining of the liver cryosections at different times after injection revealed a total disappearance of WiDr cells within the first 12 h. A subpopulation of HT-29 (HT29-b) with increased metastatic activity was isolated by double selection and recultivation of cells from induced liver metastases. After a 6- to 12-week period rats injected with HT-29b showed a pattern of metastases with additional lung metastases and in some cases peritoneal carcinosis. In addition to immunohistochemistry cytokeratin 20 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was confirmed to be a sensitive and specific tool for the detection of disseminated tumor cells in different compartments.
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PMID:A human carcinoma model in athymic rats reflecting solid and disseminated colorectal metastases. 992 49

We examined the expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA in the peripheral blood of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Eleven out of 12 oral SCC patients showed positive RT-PCR results. However, there is no clear relationship between the haematogenous CK20 mRNA and the metastasis. After initial treatment, all of the tumour-free survivors tested showed negative RT-PCR results. CK20 mRNA in peripheral blood can be used as a marker for tumour recurrence but not not for metastasis in oral SCC patients.
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PMID:Haematogenous cytokeratin 20 mRNA as a predictive marker for recurrence in oral cancer patients. 1040 52

More than half of all patients with invasive urothelial cancer subsequently develop metastatic disease even after radical resection of the primary cancer. In these patients, neoplastic cells may be disseminated prior to or during the operation. A nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) assay which amplifies cytokeratin (CK) 20 transcripts was used to detect cancer cells in the peripheral blood of urothelial patients. This assay was able to detect 10 bladder cancer cell line cells in a sample of ten million peripheral-blood mononuclear (PBMN) cells. CK 20-specific signals were detected in 9 (22.5%) of 40 PBMN cell samples prepared from 40 urothelial cancer patients in relation to the tumor stage, including 0/13 patients with a superficial tumor, 4/21 (19%) with a regionally invasive tumor and 5/6 (83%) with a metastatic tumor (P = 0.0002 in chi 2 test). No signals were detected in any of 25 healthy donor PBMN cell samples. The present results indicate that the CK 20 RT-PCR assay is applicable for detection of urothelial cancer cells in the peripheral blood. The assay also confirms that hematogenic dissemination occurs in invasive urothelial cancers but rarely in superficial ones.
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PMID:Detection of disseminated urothelial cancer cells in peripheral venous blood by a cytokeratin 20-specific nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. 1047 Feb 88

We investigated a nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) system to detect CK20 mRNA in thyroid carcinomas, benign thyroid diseases and peripheral blood to improve diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma and to detect disseminated tumour cells. Frozen tissue samples of 46 thyroid carcinomas and 30 benign thyroid diseases (14 multinodular goiters, 14 follicular adenomas, two Hashimoto's thyroiditis) were obtained intraoperatively. Preoperative blood samples were drawn from 31 patients with thyroid cancer, nine patients with benign thyroid disorders and 20 healthy volunteers. Nine out of nine medullary, 9/12 follicular, 7/19 papillary and 2/6 anaplastic carcinomas expressed CK20 transcripts. CK20 mRNA was undetectable in 30 tissue sections of benign thyroid diseases. Circulating tumour cells were found in the blood of 3/8 patients with medullary carcinoma, 2/8 patients with follicular carcinoma, 2/11 patients with papillary carcinoma and 1/4 patients with an anaplastic carcinoma. Nine blood samples of patients with benign thyroid diseases and 20 healthy volunteers tested negative. For the first time CK20 mRNA could be detected in tissue sections of thyroid carcinomas and peripheral blood samples of patients with thyroid cancer. It was not detectable in benign thyroid diseases. Our results therefore strongly suggest that CK20 RT-PCR assays may improve the diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma and is able to detect circulating tumour cells in peripheral blood of thyroid carcinoma patients.
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PMID:Expression of cytokeratin 20 in thyroid carcinomas and peripheral blood detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. 1063 83

We studied three keratin (K) gene candidates, K13, K19, and K20 mRNAs, for detecting micrometastases in cervical lymph nodes (LNs) by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Of 166 histologically metastasis-negative nodes, 24 micrometastatic LNs (14. 4%) were detected based on K13 gene expression. Keratin 19 mRNA is an inadequate marker for the genetic diagnosis due to not only illegitimate gene expression from lymphatic tissue but also gene expression from the ectopic salivary gland. Keratin 20 mRNA showed low sensitivity. It is suggested that K13 mRNA may be a promising tumor marker among these keratin genes for detecting the micrometastases in cervical LNs of oral cancer.
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PMID:Keratin mRNA for detecting micrometastasis in cervical lymph nodes of oral cancer. 1109 92

Cytokeratins are potential markers for epithelial cell detection in hematological tissues. Thus, we developed a nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) strategy to detect cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA and studied its sensitivity and specificity as a molecular marker of occult breast cancer cells. In cell dilution experiments with human breast cancer cell lines, the limit of detection was 1 tumor cell in 1,000 hematological cells. In RNA dilution experiments of breast cancer cells' RNA in E. Coli tRNA, the CK20 transcript was only detectable when at least 1 ng of total tumor RNA was present in a total of 1 microg of RNA mixture. In parallel experiments using colorectal cancer specimens, CK20 mRNA was detected with as little as 1 pg of total tumor RNA, suggesting a low level of CK20 mRNA expression in breast cancer cells. The CK20 transcript was detected in all six tumors and five hematological samples of breast cancer patients but in none of nine hematological cell lines. However, CK20 transcript was also detected in unfractionated nucleated cell population of hematological samples from 23 of 31 (74%) healthy volunteers and from 12 of 24 (50%) patients with hematological malignancies. When mononucleated and polymorphonucleated cell populations of hematological samples from these control groups were screened separately, CK20 expression was detected in 94% of polymorphonucleated cell fractions and in 44% of mononucleated cell subpopulations. Thus, we conclude that the low sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR detection of CK20 mRNA limits its usefulness for breast cancer cell detection in hematological products.
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PMID:Cytokeratin 20 is not a reliable molecular marker for occult breast cancer cell detection in hematological tissues. 1136 11

Three (propositus) cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) showing endocrine differentiation at the immunohistochemical level were studied using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to determine the presence of mRNA of chromogranin A. Moreover, 20 (consecutive) cases of BCC were studied with immunohistochemistry alone using chromogranin A, synaptophysin, S100 protein, cytokeratin 20, and neuron-specific enolase antibodies (NSE). The three propositus cases of BCC showed positive results when RT-PCR for mRNA of chromogranin A was performed. Eleven out of 20 consecutive cases of BCC were focally positive for chromogranin A antibody. These results confirm the presence of endocrine differentiation in BCC, demonstrated both with immunohistochemistry and with RT-PCR.
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PMID:[Endocrine differentiation in basocellular carcinoma]. 1143 14

The histological diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be complicated by difficulty in differentiation from cholangiocarcinoma and metastatic carcinoma. Immunohistochemical stains currently in use are suboptimal in terms of specificity and sensitivity. Using cDNA array analysis for differential gene expression, we demonstrated a significant increase in mRNA expression level of CD10/CALLA, a type 2 cell-surface metalloproteinase, in HCC, which was subsequently confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting analysis. To test the possibility of using CD10/CALLA as a diagnostic marker for HCC, various intrahepatic tumors were studied immunohistochemically using a monoclonal antibody for CD10. A characteristic canalicular-staining pattern was observed in normal hepatocytes and at the apical surface of bile duct epithelial cells. The canalicular expression of CD10 was identified in 9 of 15 HCCs examined (60%), whereas 10 cholangiocarcinomas and 8 of 9 metastatic carcinomas lacked this staining. In three of the six HCCs negative for CD10, the surrounding nonneoplastic liver tissue was also negative, suggesting fixation-associated loss of immunoreactivity. Six HCCs had stronger CD10 staining in tumor cells when compared to the surrounding nonneoplastic tissue. Three cases of benign bile duct adenomas also expressed CD10 at the luminal aspect. One of the MCs showed a diffuse, cytoplasmic staining for CD10, a pattern readily distinguishable from that of HCC. A panel of other immunohistochemical markers were also studied for comparison, including polyclonal anti-carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin (CK) 7, CK20, and alpha-fetoprotein. Our results demonstrate that cDNA arrays can be effectively used to identify new diagnostic markers, and that CD10 is a reliable marker for identifying HCC, particularly when used in conjunction with a panel of immunohistochemical markers (polyclonal anti-carcinoembryonic antigen, CK7, CK20, and alpha-fetoprotein) and in the distinction from cholangiocarcinoma.
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PMID:cDNA arrays and immunohistochemistry identification of CD10/CALLA expression in hepatocellular carcinoma. 1158 69

The suitability of "real-time" quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the detection of isolated carcinoma cells in bone marrow was investigated by evaluating the expression of cytokeratin (CK)7, CK8, CK18, CK19, and CK20 in 17 gastrointestinal cancer cell lines, 64 control bone marrow specimens from noncancer patients, and 30 bone marrow specimens from patients with gastric or colorectal cancer. RT-PCR products for CK8 and CK18 were detected in all cancer cell lines, but only 16, 5, and 11 cell lines provided evidence for CK19, CK7, and CK20 transcription. Variable numbers of bone marrow specimens from noncancer patients demonstrated background transcription of CK8 (78.1%), CK18 (95.3%), CK19 (35.9%), CK20 (29.6%), and CK7 (16.7%). Maximal background transcription for CK8, CK18, and CK19 ranged from 52.2 to 56.1 copies/10(3) copies glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), the corresponding values of 0.06 and 0.76 copies for CK7 and CK20 being distinctly lower. When maximal background values were used as a threshold value to define positivity in tumor cell dilution experiments, sensitivity levels of one tumor cell in 10(4) bone marrow cells were determined for CK7 and CK20 RT-PCR assays. Maximal background expression values of the different CKs as obtained in the control series were exceeded once (CK20), twice (CK18 and CK19), and 18 times (CK7) in bone marrow specimens from cancer patients, with none of these specimens exceeding the maximal background expression value of CK8. We conclude that RT-PCR for CK8, CK18, and CK19 cannot be recommended for the detection of isolated tumor cells in bone marrow of cancer patients. On the other side, the limited number of gastric and colorectal cancer cell lines expressing CK7 and CK20 indicates that assay sensitivity for these CKs might be limited because of their selective expression by carcinoma cells.
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PMID:Transcription of cytokeratins 8, 18, and 19 in bone marrow and limited expression of cytokeratins 7 and 20 by carcinoma cells: inherent limitations for RT-PCR in the detection of isolated tumor cells. 1159 48


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