Ishikawa T, Kashiwagi H, Iwakami Y, Hirai M, Kawamura T, Aiyoshi Y, Yashiro T, Ami Y, Uchida K, Miwa M
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Oncology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Center for Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, Ibaraki, Japan.
Jpn J Clin Oncol. 1998 Dec;28(12):723-8. doi: 10.1093/jjco/28.12.723.
alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in serum are widely used as tumor markers in the evaluation of prognosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer, respectively. To establish the molecular diagnosis of cancer, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for AFP and PSA was used to identify circulating cancer cells in the blood of cancer patients. Here, we examined the tissue-specificity of AFP and PSA and tested whether AFP and PSA are suitable targets in the detection of certain cancer cells by RT-PCR using peripheral blood samples.
Tissue specificity of AFP and PSA was analyzed by Northern blotting and RT-PCR. Probes for AFP and PSA were hybridized with poly A+ RNAs from 50 human tissues. RT-PCR for AFP and PSA mRNA was performed using several cancerous tissues and normal tissues and peripheral blood cells from seven healthy volunteers.
Broad expression of AFP was observed in several tissues and a large amount of AFP mRNA was found in fetal liver. PSA was expressed in prostate, salivary gland, pancreas and uterus. By RT-PCR, AFP and PSA mRNA were detected in several tumors, including salivary pleomorphic adenoma, hilar bile duct carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder and thyroid papillary carcinoma. Furthermore, AFP and PSA mRNAs were frequently detected by RT-PCR, even in peripheral blood cells from healthy volunteers.
Neither AFP nor PSA showed tissue-specific expression. AFP and PSA mRNA were detected in several diseased and non-diseased tissues and normal circulating blood by RT-PCR.
血清中的甲胎蛋白（AFP）和前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）分别作为肿瘤标志物广泛用于评估肝细胞癌和前列腺癌患者的预后及治疗。为建立癌症的分子诊断方法，采用针对AFP和PSA的逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）来鉴定癌症患者血液中的循环癌细胞。在此，我们检测了AFP和PSA的组织特异性，并使用外周血样本通过RT-PCR测试AFP和PSA是否为检测某些癌细胞的合适靶点。
通过Northern印迹法和RT-PCR分析AFP和PSA的组织特异性。将AFP和PSA的探针与来自50种人体组织的聚腺苷酸加尾RNA（poly A+ RNA）杂交。使用来自7名健康志愿者的几种癌组织、正常组织和外周血细胞进行针对AFP和PSA mRNA的RT-PCR。
在几种组织中观察到AFP广泛表达，且在胎儿肝脏中发现大量AFP mRNA。PSA在前列腺、唾液腺、胰腺和子宫中表达。通过RT-PCR，在几种肿瘤中检测到AFP和PSA mRNA，包括唾液腺多形性腺瘤、肝门胆管癌、胰腺癌、膀胱移行细胞癌和甲状腺乳头状癌。此外，即使在健康志愿者的外周血细胞中，通过RT-PCR也经常检测到AFP和PSA mRNA。
AFP和PSA均未表现出组织特异性表达。通过RT-PCR在几种患病和未患病组织以及正常循环血液中检测到AFP和PSA mRNA。
