Combination of L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase and CEA using real-time RT-PCR improves accuracy in detection of peritoneal micrometastasis of gastric cancer.

Peritoneal metastasis is the most frequent form of recurrence for advanced gastric cancer. We previously performed a global analysis of the gene expression of gastric cancer cell lines established from peritoneal metastasis with cDNA microarray. One of the up-regulated genes is L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase (L3-PP). We have examined its potential as a novel marker for the detection of peritoneal micrometastasis of gastric cancer. L3-PP mRNA in peritoneal wash from 88 gastric cancer patients was quantified for comparison of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) mRNA by means of real-time RT-PCR with a fluorescently-labeled probe to predict peritoneal recurrence. The quantity of L3-PP and CEA correlated with wall penetration. The cut-off value was set at the upper limit of the quantitative value of T1 cases (tumor invades within submucosa) and those above the cut-off value constituted the micrometastasis (MM+) group; eight out of 14 cases with peritoneal dissemination were MM+ L3-PP (57.1% sensitivity) and two out of 57 T1 and T2 cases were MM+ (93% specificity). For two out of 14 cases of peritoneal dissemination only L3-PP could detect micrometastasis of gastric cancer, indicating that L3-PP is superior to CEA especially in poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma. The combination of CEA and L3-PP improved the accuracy of diagnosis up to 85.7%. Consequently, free cancer cells that cannot be detected by CEA mRNA could be detected using L3-PP mRNA. CEA alone was not sufficient, but L3-PP and CEA in combination can attain a higher accuracy of detection.