Detection of K-ras point mutations in mesenteric venous blood from colorectal cancer patients by enriched polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis

In order to confirm the presence of cancer cells in mesenteric venous blood and to examine their relationship with the occurrence of liver metastases, we attempted to detect K-ras codon 12 point mutations in perioperative mesenteric blood using enriched polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis in 25 patients with primary colorectal tumors carrying K-ras point mutations. Among these patients, three with synchronous liver metastases were included. The same K-ras point mutation (substitution of CAT for CCT) was detected in both the blood and the primary tumor in a Dukes' C patient. We confirmed this result by colony hybridization and estimated the tumor-to-normal cell ratio to be 1:400. This patient has no liver metastases two years after surgery and her carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level remains normal. We demonstrated that considerable numbers of cancer cells can be found in mesenteric venous blood during colorectal cancer surgery. However, their potential role in the formation of liver metastases remains unclear.