Cytological diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma sometimes poses difficulties in distinguishing malignant from benign cells. Recent molecular study of pancreatic carcinoma has revealed a very high incidence of a point mutation of the c-Ki-rasoncogene at codon 12 in this neoplasm. To take advantage of this technique for the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma, we attempted to amplify the c-Ki-rasgene from endoscopically obtained pancreatic juice by isolation of DNA and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). PCR was possible in approx 70 of the cases. A point mutation was nonradioisotopically detected in 4 of 6 pancreatic carcinomas and in one intraductal papillary neoplasm, whereas no mutation was detected in other cases. Thus, this method was thought to be useful for the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma.
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