Investigating gene expression level of MUC1 and CEA in pleural fluid of NSCLC lung cancer patients with real-time RT-PCR method

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in the world that has turned to into a big problem for world health organizations in the diagnosis and cure field. Investigating the cancer related genes expression can have a significant role in early diagnosis and determining the kind of cancer. However, there is no specific biomarker to aid early clinical diagnosis. In this study, gene expression level of MUC1 and CEA were investigated among the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. METHODS: In this study, 40 NSCLC patients were compared with 40 healthy people. Real-time RT-PCR method was used to determine the expression level of MUC1 mRNA and CEA mRNA biomarkers in pleural fluid of patients and healthy people. RESULTS: Comparison of these groups with t-test showed no meaningful difference regarding age average. Positivity of CEA mRNA marker in NSCLC patients were observed in 30 of 40 patients and this marker’s sensitivity was determined at 75%. In the healthy group, 11 of 40 had positive marker. MUC1 mRNA marker among patients were positive in 28 of them which shows 70% sensitivity and it was positive in 7 out of 40 people in the healthy group. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study can be considered a diagnosing-screening test for early discovery of the dis-ease since MUC1 mRNA and CEA mRNA markers were evaluated at good sensitivity levels. For further validation of the research results, it is suggested to perform a more widespread study with more samples. Key words: Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - Biomarkers - Gene expression