Detection of the pancreas-specific gene in the peripheral blood of patients with pancreatic carcinoma

The prognosis of patients with pancreatic carcinoma remains very poor. To improve the therapeutic results, the early detection of this cancer is needed. The present study was performed to detect the pancreas-specific gene, chymotrypsinogen, in the peripheral blood from patients with pancreatic carcinoma by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in order to evaluate the clinical significance of this gene. Ten patients with pancreatic carcinoma, two with acute pancreatitis, three with chronic pancreatitis and ten control subjects were examined for the presence of chymotrypsinogen using RT-PCR techniques in the peripheral blood. To confirm that the chymotrypsinogen gene was expressed in a pancreas-specific manner, the expression of chymotrypsinogen in various types of human adult tissue was evaluated by RT-PCR. The specific band of the chymotrypsinogen gene was detected in the pancreas. Serial dilution studies demonstrated the chymotrypsinogen gene to be detected at a concentration of one pancreatic cell per 10(6) peripheral blood cells. Seven out of the ten (70%) patients with pancreatic carcinoma were found to be positive based on the RT-PCR findings. In contrast, no pancreas-specific gene was detected in the peripheral blood of any patients with acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis or the control subjects. Our observations show that the detection of the pancreatic specific gene, chymotrypsinogen, is therefore useful as a genetic diagnostic marker in pancreatic carcinoma. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign