Correlation between CK18 gene and gastric carcinoma micrometastasis

Table 1 Lymph node MM

Pathological diagnosis of lymph nodes (carcinoma cells)	RT-PCR(CK18 mRNA)		Sum
	Positive	Negative
Positive	99	0	99
Negative	34	165	199
Sum	133	165	298

Table 2 Correlation between expression of CK18 mRNA in lymph nodes, peripheral blood and TNM stage

Pathologic	Lymph nodes				Peripheral blood
parameters	n	+	–	P	n	+	–	P
Tissue				>0.05				<0.05
differentiation	15	4	11		29	7	22
Well-moderate	20	10	10		25	14	11
Poor				<0.05				>0.05
Tumor invasion	11	1	10		23	6	17
Muscularis	24	13	11		31	15	16
Serosa				<0.05				<0.05
Lymph node	14	2	12		20	3	17
metastasis	21	12	9		34	18	16
Yes				>0.05				<0.05
No	15	4	11		21	4	17
TNM stage	20	11	9		33	17	16
I+II
III+IV

+: positive cases; –: negative cases.

Table 3 Correlation between expression of CK18 mRNA in lymph nodes, tissue differentiation and tumor invasion

Pathologicparameters	CK18 mRNA expression of lymph nodes			P
	n	Positive	Negative
Tissue differentiation				>0.05
Well-moderate	31	11	20
Poor	267	122	145
Tumor invasion				<0.05
Muscularis	62	12	50
(T1+T2)
Serosa	236	121	115
(T3+T4)