Prognostic Significance of Cytokeratin-20 Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction in Lymph Nodes of Node-Negative Colorectal Cancer Patients

Abstract

CK-20 RT-PCR in peritumoral histopathologic tumor-free (pN0) lymph nodes of colorectal cancer is an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Additional CK-20 IHC improves the specificity and prognostic value of RT-PCR for cancer-related death.