J Gastroenterol  1998 Jun;33(3):390-6 

Detection of Ki-ras and p53 gene mutations in tissue and pancreatic juice from
pancreatic adenocarcinomas.

Kondoh S, Kaino M, Okita S, Ryozawa S, Akiyama T, Okita K.

First Department of Internal Medicine, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine,
Ube, Japan.

Pancreatic carcinomas have a high incidence of Ki-ras mutations, and the genetic
change is thought to occur at an early stage in the carcinogenesis. The aim of
this study was to evaluate the usefulness of detecting genetic mutations in pure
pancreatic juice (PPJ). DNA was extracted from tissue specimens of pancreatic
carcinomas and from cells in PPJ, and subjected to polymerase chain
reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. Two types of mobility
shifts that indicate Ki-ras mutations were observed in 13 of the 20 (65%) tissue
specimens obtained by operation or autopsy. Ten of 15 specimens (67%) of PPJ
collected from patients with pancreatic carcinomas showed two types of mobility
shifts. Conventional imaging techniques did not show two in 10 of these
patients. PPJ from patients with non-cancerous pancreatic diseases showed no
Ki-ras mutations. The p53 tumor suppressor gene, examined by PCR-SSCP analysis,
was mutated in 8 of the 20 tissue specimens obtained by operation or autopsy
(40%). The detection of Ki-ras and p53 mutations in PPJ could be useful for the
early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinomas, especially for neoplastic lesions of
the intraductal type.

PMID: 9658319 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]