BACKGROUNDThe relationship between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation and tumor is the hot point in cancer research field by now. The existent methods for extracting mtDNA are time-consuming and complicated. In order to further research the relationship of the mutation of mtDNA and development of lung cancer, it is necessary to establish a rapid and simple method for extracting mtDNA from lung cancer tissue.

METHODSLung cancer tissues were lysed in base-denaturalization liquid and mtDNA was directly extracted from them by chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (24:1). The mtDNA was confirmed by PCR.

RESULTSThe extracted mtDNA samples were not combinated with protein and 1528bp PCR products of (mtDNA) were detected from 40 samples of analyzing patients. About (7.97±0.12)μg of mtDNA could be extracted from 1 gram of cancer tissue.

CONCLUSIONSThe method is simple, rapid and efficient to extract (mtDNA) from human lung cancer tissues and it could be used to handle small amount tissues or large number of samples in clinical and scientific research.