Overexpression of nuclear protein kinase CK2 Beta subunit and prognosis in human gastric carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Gastric carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies in the world, yet little is known about the molecular process of its development and progression. The aims of this study are to correlate the expression of nuclear protein kinase CK2 beta subunit (CK2beta) with clinicopathologic parameters and patient survival.


METHODS
Expression levels of nuclear CK2beta were analyzed in 104 gastric tissues from patients with gastric carcinoma by immunohistochemistry. A paired t test was used to analyze the differences in nuclear CK2beta expression between tumor and nontumor tissues in the same patient. A two-tailed chi (2) test was performed to determine the significance of the difference between nuclear CK2beta expression and clinicopathologic parameters. All time-to-event endpoints according to various clinicopathologic parameters were plotted by Kaplan-Meier method, and significance was then determined by univariate log-rank test. Cox proportional-hazards model was used for multivariate analysis to determine the independence of prognostic impact of nuclear CK2beta expression.


RESULTS
Overexpression of nuclear CK2beta was significantly correlated with depth of invasion (P = 0.042). Patients with high expression levels of nuclear CK2beta had a significantly poorer overall survival rate compared with patients with low expression levels of nuclear CK2beta (P = 0.0006). On multivariate Cox regression analysis, overexpression of nuclear CK2beta and stage were proven to be independent prognostic markers for gastric carcinoma (P = 0.0036 and 0.0005, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Overexpression of nuclear CK2beta can be a useful marker for predicting the outcome of patients with gastric carcinoma.
Lin
Kai-Yuan
KY
Department of Medical Research, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
Fang
Chia-Lang
CL
Chen
Yi
Y
Li
Chien-Feng
CF
Chen
Sheng-Hsuan
SH
Kuo
Chen-Yi
CY
Tai
Chein
C
Uen
Yih-Huei
YH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D047390:Casein Kinase II / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D047390:Casein Kinase II