Detection of K-ras point mutations in the stool of patients with colorectal tumors

Abstract

Using mutant-allele-specific amplification procedure, patients with colorectal tumors were analyzed for K-ras point mutations in the stool and the tumor tissue. K-ras mutation of DNA purified from the stool was detected in 10 of 40 (25.0%) cancer patients, and in 3 of 10 (30.0%) adenoma patients. Otherwise, in the cases whose tumors contained the mutations, it was detected with the frequency of 71.4% in cancers, and 100% in adenomas. This frequency tended to decrease in the cancers of distal colon or small size, but there was no significant. This study suggested that stool analysis of genetic alterations would develop diagnostic method for colorectal cancer.