Detection of gastric cancer micrometastases in lymph nodes by amplification of keratin 19 mRNA with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

A sensitive method for the detection of gastric cancer micrometastases in lymph nodes was developed. The method was based on amplification of keratin 19 mRNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Keratin 19 RT-PCR showed that keratin 19 mRNA was expressed in all 12 gastric cancers, but not in any of 20 normal control lymph nodes, indicating that keratin 19 mRNA is a good target of RT-PCR for the detection of gastric cancer micrometastases in lymph nodes. Serial dilution studies of RNA extracted from gastric cancers against RNA extracted from control lymph nodes demonstrated that the detection sensitivity of the keratin 19 RT-PCR method was one cancer cell in 10(3)-10(5) lymph node cells. Detectability of lymph node metastases was compared between keratin 19 RT-PCR and conventional histological examination, using 100 lymph nodes obtained from 12 gastric cancer patients. Keratin 19 mRNA was detected in all of the seven lymph nodes which were histologically metastasis-positive. Of the 93 lymph nodes which were histologically metastasis-negative, 79 were found not to express keratin 19 mRNA but 14 were found to express keratin 19 mRNA, indicating that these lymph nodes contained micrometastases which could not be detected by histological examination. These results demonstrate that keratin 19 RT-PCR is a more sensitive method than histological examination for the detection of gastric micrometastases in lymph nodes.