Detection and clinical significance of CD44v6 and integrin-β1 in pancreatic cancer patients using a triplex real-time RT-PCR assay.

The cell adhesion molecules CD44v6 and integrin-β1 are associated with the progression and metastasis of cancer. A novel triplex real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was developed to quantify CD44v6 and integrin-β1 gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 30 pancreatic cancer (PC) patients and 12 healthy individuals. The standard curve of the triplex qRT-PCR was constructed by optimizing the reaction condition and the amplification efficiency was 102.5, 101.1, and 100.6 % for CD44v6, integrin-β1 and endogenous gene (β-actin) amplification. Nonspecific bands were not observed from the triplex qRT-PCR amplification and the detection limit of this assay was 100 copies. Expression levels of CD44v6 and integrin-β1 gene were significantly lower in healthy individuals than PC patients (P<0.05). CD44v6 and integrin-β1 gene expression were not associated with the sex, age, and tumor position in PC (P>0.05). CD44v6 gene expression was significantly associated with clinical stage, liver metastasis, and tumor size (P<0.05). Integrin-β1 gene expression was significantly associated with clinical stage and liver metastasis (P<0.05). This triplex qRT-PCR assay may provide a useful tool for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic evaluation in PC.