Elevated PRL-3 expression was more frequently detected in the large primary gastric cancer and exhibits a poor prognostic impact on the patients.
OBJECTIVE
It has been reported that elevated PRL-3 expression was closely associated with lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer. In the present study, we detected the expression of PRL-3 in primary gastric cancer tissue, and evaluated its prognostic impact on the patients.


METHODS
Total 137 gastric tumor samples were measured for PRL-3 phosphatase expression using immunohistochemistry method, and the overall survival rate was compared between the patients with high PRL-3 expression (n = 85) and those with moderate or low PRL-3 expression (n = 52) in the primary tumor.


RESULTS
PRL-3 expression was more frequently detected in the tumors with a diameter >40 mm and in advanced stages (TNM stage III or IV). Furthermore, the overall survival rate of the patients with high expression of PRL-3 in the primary tumor was significantly less than those with moderate or low expression (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
PRL-3 expression is associated with gastric cancer progression. Its high expression in the primary lesion had a negative impact on the prognosis of the patients. This strongly suggests that PRL-3 should be considered as a prognostic factor.
Wang
Zhao
Z
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, 510080 Guangzhou, China.
Cai
Shi-Rong
SR
He
Yu-Long
YL
Zhan
Wen-Hua
WH
Zhang
Chang-Hua
CH
Wu
Hui
H
Peng
Jian-Jun
JJ
Xu
Jian-Bo
JB
Zhang
Xin-Hua
XH
Wang
Liang
L
Song
Wu
W
D000368:Aged; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*
D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C484730:PTP4A3 protein, human; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases