BACKGROUNDTo study the diagnostic significance of detecting p53 gene mutation in peripheral blood of lung cancer patients.

METHODSPCR-SSCP was used to detect p53 gene mutation in peripheral blood of 46 samples (lung cancer 28, benign lung diseases 8, healthy people 10).

RESULTSOf the 28 lung cancer patients, 4 cases (squamous cell carcinoma 1, adenocarcinoma 1, small cell lung cancer 2) had p53 gene mutation. The positive rate was 14.29%. Of the 4 positive lung cancer patients, one patient was in stage II, one in stage III, and the other two in stage IV. No p53 mutation was found in peripheral blood of 8 benign lung disease patients and 10 healthy persons.

CONCLUSIONSDetection of p53 gene mutation in peripheral blood cells may be helpful to the diagnosis of lung cancer, especially to the accurate staging of lung cancer.