Clinical significance of HLA class I heavy chain expression in patients with gastric cancer.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about the relation between HLA-I expression and the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. The aim of this retrospective study was to clarify the clinical significance of HLA-I heavy chain expression in gastric cancer.


METHODS
The study subjects were 202 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone curative surgery. Tumors were examined for expression of HLA-I heavy chain antigens by immunohistochemistry. We analyzed the association of HLA-I heavy chain expression with clinicopathological parameters and patient prognosis.


RESULTS
HLA-B/C expression showed association with deeper tumor invasion, higher incidence of lymph node metastasis, more advanced tumor stage, and higher incidence of recurrence. Patients with positive HLA-B/C expression had shorter 5-year overall and 5-year disease-free survival compared with patients whose tumors showed mixed and negative expression (P < 0.05 and 0.01, respectively). In multivariate analysis, although HLA-B/C expression was not recognized as an independent prognostic factor, it was an independent factor in predicting peritoneal recurrence after curative surgery in patients with gastric cancer [relative risk (RR): 9.924, P = 0.003].


CONCLUSIONS
Expression of HLA-B/C heavy chain is associated with tumor progression, and it could be a significant predictor of peritoneal recurrence after curative surgery in patients with gastric cancer.
Ueda
Yoshitake
Y
Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Oita, Japan. yoshimd@med.oita-u.ac.jp
Ishikawa
Koichi
K
Shiraishi
Norio
N
Yokoyama
Shigeo
S
Kitano
Seigo
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I