title: Expression of ornithine decarboxylase in precancerous and cancerous gastric lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) in precancerous and cancerous gastric lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the expression of ODC in gastric mucosa from patients with chronic superficial gastritis (CSG, n=32), chronic atrophic gastritis [CAG, n=43; 15 with and 28 without intestinal metaplasia (IM)], gastric dysplasia (DYS, n=11) and gastric cancer (GC, n=48) tissues using immunohistochemical staining. All 134 biopsy specimens of gastric mucosa were collected by gastroscopy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The positive rate of ODC expression was 34.4%, 42.9%, 73.3%, 81.8% and 91.7% in cases with CSG, CAG without IM, CAG with IM, DYS and GC, respectively (P<0.01), The positive rate of ODC expression increased in the order of CSG < CAG (without IM) < CAG (with IM) < DYS and finally, GC. In addition, ODC positive immunostaining rate was lower in well-differentiated GC than in poorly-differentiated GC (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expression of ODC is positively correlated with the degree of malignity of gastric mucosa and development of gastric lesions. This finding indicates that ODC may be used as a good biomarker in the screening and diagnosis of precancerous lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, 17 Renmin Avenue, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. miaoxinpu@163.com
authors.forename: Xin-Pu
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Jian-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shi-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jiang-Zheng
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D005756:Gastritis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D005757:Gastritis, Atrophic / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008679:Metaplasia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase