Decreased expression of tumour suppressor Bax-interacting factor-1 (Bif-1), a Bax activator, in gastric carcinomas.
OBJECTIVE
Evasion of apoptosis is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Bax-interacting factor-1 (Bif-1) interacts with both Bax and Bak that are essential for the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, and enhances apoptosis. The aim of this study was to explore whether alteration of Bif-1 expression might be a characteristic of gastric cancer.


METHODS
We analysed the expression of Bif-1 protein in 60 gastric adenocarcinomas by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray approach.


RESULTS
In normal gastric mucosal cells, surface and glandular epithelial cells strongly expressed Bif-1. While Bif-1 expression was detected in 24 cases (40%) of the gastric carcinomas, there was no Bif-1 immunostaining in the remaining 36 cancers. Even in the 24 cases with positive Bif-1 immunostainings, 10 cancers showed decreased intensity of immunostaining compared with the normal mucosal epithelial cells.


CONCLUSIONS
The decreased expression of Bif-1 in malignant gastric epithelial cells compared with the normal mucosal cells suggests that loss of Bif-1 expression may play a role in gastric tumorigenesis, possibly by inhibiting the apoptosis mediated by Bif-1.
Lee
Jong Woo
JW
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Jeong
Eun Goo
EG
Soung
Young Hwa
YH
Nam
Suk Woo
SW
Lee
Jung Young
JY
Yoo
Nam Jin
NJ
Lee
Sug Hyung
SH
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000378:metabolism*; D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; C429293:SH3GLB1 protein, human