Activated Akt as an indicator of prognosis in gastric cancer.
The immunohistochemical expression of phosphorylated (activated) Akt (pAkt) in 50 advanced gastric carcinomas has been analyzed and the results correlated with age, sex, location in the stomach, histotype, stage, survival, mitotic and apoptotic index, some cell cycle regulators (cyclin D1, cyclin E, p34/cdc2, p27/kip1), and cell proliferation. There was a statistically significant direct correlation between pAkt expression (both cytoplasmatic and nuclear) and depth of infiltration of the tumor, number of infiltrated lymph nodes and p34/cdc2 expression, and between prevalently nuclear pAkt and cyclin D1 and cyclin E. Conversely, there was a significant inverse correlation between nuclear pAkt and apoptotic index and between cytoplasmatic and nuclear pAkt and patient survival. No correlation was found between pAkt and sex, age, tumor location, histotype, mitotic index, and cell proliferation. These findings suggest that pAkt may be considered an indicator of tumor progression and patient survival in gastric cancer.
Institute of Clinical Physiology, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Siena Unit, Siena, Italy.
Caterina
C
Cinti
Carla
C
Vindigni
Alessandra
A
Zamparelli
Dario
D
La Sala
Maria Carmela
MC
Epistolato
Daniele
D
Marrelli
Gabriele
G
Cevenini
Piero
P
Tosi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D019938:Cyclin D1 / Q000378:metabolism; D019927:Cyclin E / Q000378:metabolism; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000378:metabolism
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019927:Cyclin E; D019938:Cyclin D1; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; C513496:MIB1 ligase, human; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase