To explore the use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) detecting the expression of CK19 and Vimentin mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and its clinical significance.

Using RT-qPCR detect CK19 and Vimentin mRNA expression in peripheral blood of 73 patients with breast cancer and 24 healthy controls. Spss20.0 software was used for statistical analysis. CK19 and Vimentin mRNA expression and other measurement data were expressed as (±s). Independent t test was used for comparison between groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn by establishing binary logistic regression model. Analyze the potential value of CK19, Vimentin and their combination in the peripheral blood for the diagnosis of breast cancer. A P value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant difference.

The expression of CK19 and vimentin mRNA in breast cancer group were significantly higher than those in healthy control group (P<0.05). The area under ROC curve (AUC) of CK19 was 0.689, the sensitivity was 63.0%, and the specificity was 75%. The AUC of vimentin was 0.709, the sensitivity was 41.1%, and the specificity was 91.7%. While the AUC of CK19 combined with Vimentin in the diagnosis of breast cancer was 0.740. The expression of CK19 mRNA was associated with menopausal status of breast cancer patients (P<0.05).

Both CK19 and Vimentin mRNA are up-regulated in patients with breast cancer, which have satisfactory diagnostic efficiency for breast cancer and probably become the potential biomarkers to assist the diagnosis of breast cancer.