Haematogenous cytokeratin 20 mRNA as a predictive marker for recurrence inoral cancer patients

We examined the expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA in the peripheral blood of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients by reverse transcripta se polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Eleven out of 12 oral SCC patients s howed positive RT-PCR results. However, there is no clear relationship betw een the haematogenous CK20 mRNA and the metastasis. After initial treatment , all of the tumour-free survivors tested showed negative RT-PCR results. C K20 mRNA in peripheral blood can be used as a marker for tumour recurrence but not for metastasis in oral SCC patients.