Objectives: Some intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) have no proliferation to malignant IPMNs, and benign IPMNs can observe the natural course without a surgical intervention. Therefore, an accurate assessment is required to determine the appropriate decision on managing malignant IPMNs.
Methods: Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed for pancreatic juice by a LightCycler instrument focused on carcinoembryonic antigen, MUC1, and human telomerase reverse transcriptase.
Results: MUC1/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase messenger RNA (mRNA) ratio in intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma (IPMC; median, 4710.7) was significantly higher in intraductal papillary mucinous adenoma (IPMA; median, 727; P = 0.0229). Furthermore, the MUC1/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA ratio in carcinoma in situ and minimum invasive IPMC (median, 26,490) was significantly higher than that in IPMA (P = 0.0152). The cutoff level of MUC1 ratio was determined as 1600 for the division of IPMC from IPMA by the receiver-operating characteristic curve. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of MUC1 mRNA were 88.9%, 71.4%, 80.0%, 83.3%, and 81.3%, respectively.
Conclusions: Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using MUC1 is useful for the detection of malignant IPMN in pure pancreatic juice.