Low specificity of cytokeratin 19 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses for detection of hematogenous lung cancer dissemination.

Abstract

Contrary to prior reports, RT-PCR may detect non-tissue-specific constitutive low-level (illegitimate) expression of CK-19 mRNA in peripheral-blood mononuclear (PBMN) cells in a significant number of healthy controls. This finding may not only hamper the use of this assay system in lung cancer patients, but also questions its proposed applicability in patients with other epithelial tumors such as breast and prostate cancer.