Increased plasma DNA integrity index in head and neck cancer patients and relationship with prognosis

• Main Authors: Chia-Ying Wen, 溫家楹
• Other Authors: Yi-Chih Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24266971280978945351

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 生物技術研究所 === 97 === Tumor-released DNA in blood represents a hopeful molecular biomarker for cancer detection. It has been postulated that necrosis of tumor cells causes DNA of varying sizes to be released, which is in contrast with apoptosis in normal tissue that releases uniform and shorter DNA fragments. Plasma of seventy - five head and neck cancer patients with paired pre- and post-chemotherapy and 43 healthy individuals were analyzed by using real time PCR to determine the DNA integrity index (Dii). We found that the mean DNA integrity index was significantly higher in the plasma from head and neck cancer patients, 1.04 (95% CI: 1.22, 0.83), when compared to plasma from the healthy individuals, 0.38 (95% CI: 0.47, 0.16), p < 0.0001 using t-test analysis. The area under the ROC curve for β-actin was 0.80. The optimal sensitivity (defined as the value for which sensitivity equals specificity) was found with DNA integrity index greater than 0.49: sensitivity, 68%; specificity, 76.7%. The optimal sensitivity of positive likelihood ratio was found with DNA integrity index higher than 0.76: sensitivity, 46.7%; specificity, 97.7%. The DNA integrity index might be a potential tool for detecting head and neck cancer.