- Huihe Wang: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
OBJECTIVE: To study the relation between Mta1 gene (metastasis associated gene, meta gene) and lymph node metastasis of laryngeal carcinomas.
METHOD: Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) technique was used to detect the expression of Mta1 mRNA in 30 carcinoma of larynx tissue cases, 12 lymph nodes and 10 normal larynx tissue cases.
RESULT: The frequency of MTA1 overexpression was 100% (8/8) in primary carcinomas of larynx with metastasis but only 22.7% (5/22) in toes without metastasis (P<0.01). Expression of MTA1 was 87.5%(7/8) in lymph nodes with metastasis but only 0(0/4) in toes without metastasis(P<0.05). The frequency of Mta1 overexpression was 43.3% (13/30) in primary carcinomas of larynx.
CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the overexpression of the MTA1 gene correlates with lymph node metastasis of carcinomas of larynx. Mta1 gene will probably become a valuable gene for judging metastasis of laryngeal carcinoma.