Clinical significance of molecular diagnosis for gastric cancer lymph node micrometastasis

Table 2 Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction studies in gastric cancer patients with histological node negativity diagnosed by hematoxylin-eosin staining n (%)

Ref.	Year	Markers	Depth of tumor invasion	No. of patients	No. of total LNs	No. of micrometastatic patients	Outcomes
Okada et al[16]	2001	CEA, CK20, MAGE3	T1-T4a	24	335	10 (41.7)	N/A
Matsumoto et al[17]	2002	CEA	T1-T4	50	312	14 (28)	N/A
Arigami et al[18]	2005	CEA	T1-T3	80	1862	25 (31.3)	N/A
Sonoda et al[24]	2006	MUC2, TFF1	T1	33	310	11 (33)	N/A

T1: Invasion of lamina propria or submucosa; T3: Invasion of subserosa; T4: Penetration of serosa without invading adjacent structures (T4a) or invasion of adjacent structures; N/A: Not applicable, LN: Lymph node; RT-PCR: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; CK: Cytokeratin.