Objective: To detect the consistency of the c-MET gene amplification in peripheral blood and tumor tissue of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and discuss the clinical application value of c-MET gene amplification in peripheral blood.
Materials and methods: Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to test the tissues in 257 patients of NSCLCs and the peripheral blood samples in 318 patients of NSCLC, of which 185 cases of peripheral blood specimens could match the tissue samples, and detected the c-MET gene amplification in them by comparison of amplifications consistency in blood and tissue samples, and analyzed the correlation between c-MET gene amplification and clinical characteristics of patients.
Results: The c-MET gene amplification rate was 9.75% in peripheral blood of 31 patients with NSCLC, and was 8.95% in 23 cancer tissues, the amplification consistency, was 81.25% in peripheral blood-tumor tissue matched samples. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The consistency of the c-MET gene amplification in peripheral blood and tissue is high. c-MET gene amplification of peripheral blood could be used for clinical diagnosis and treatment in cases when tissue specimen is hard to get.