title: Clinical significance of HLA class I heavy chain expression in patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Oita, Japan. yoshimd@med.oita-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshitake
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Seigo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitano
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I