HLA-class I expression in gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the clinical impact of HLA-class I tumor cells in gastric cancer.


METHODS
HLA-class I expression was immunohistochemically evaluated in specimens from 141 gastric cancer patients. The correlation between HLA-class I expression and clinical factors was analyzed.


RESULTS
HLA-class I was identified in 96 (68.1%) gastric carcinomas. The loss of HLA-class I significantly correlated with the depth of invasion (P < 0.01), nodal involvement (P < 0.05) and tumor histology (P < 0.01). According to the positivity of HLA-class I, shallow depth and the absence of nodal metastasis increased. HLA-class I expression was a significant prognostic factor in gastric cancer (P < 0.02); however, HLA-class I was not an independent prognostic factor by multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data may suggest that loss of HLA-class I in gastric cancer did not directly reflect immunological escape from tumor antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, unlike in other cancers.
Ishigami
Sumiya
S
Digestive Surgery Surgical Oncology, Kagoshima University School of Medicine, Kagoshima, Japan. ishiga@m.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Natsugoe
Shoji
S
Nakajo
Akihiro
A
Arigami
Takaaki
T
Kitazono
Masaki
M
Okumura
Hiroshi
H
Matsumoto
Masataka
M
Uchikado
Yasuto
Y
Setoyama
Tetsuro
T
Sasaki
Ken
K
Aikou
Takashi
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*