Soluble Fas might serve as a diagnostic tool for gastric adenocarcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Fas (Apo-1/CD95) and its specific ligand (FasL) are key elements in apoptosis. They have been studied in different malignancies but there are few published studies about the soluble forms of these markers (i.e. sFas/sFasL) in gastric cancer. We have compared the serum levels of sFas/sFasL in gastric adenocarcinoma patients and cases with pre-neoplastic lesions as potential markers for early diagnosis, and investigated their relation with clinicopathological characteristics.


METHODS
Fifty-nine newly-diagnosed cases of gastric adenocarcinoma who had undergone gastrectomy, along with 62 endoscopically- and histologically-confirmed non-cancer individuals were enrolled in this study. sFas/sFasL serum levels were detected by Enzyme Linked Immunosurbent Assay.


RESULTS
Mean serum sFas level was significantly higher in gastric cancer patients than in control group (305.97 +/- 63.71 (pg/ml) vs. 92.98 +/- 4.95 (pg/ml), P < 0.001); while the mean serum level of sFasL was lower in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (0.138 +/- 0.04 (pg/ml) vs. 0.150 +/- 0.02 (pg/ml), P < 0.001). Mean serum levels of sFas/sFasL were significantly different in both intestinal/diffuse and cardiac/non-cardiac subtypes when compared to the control group (P < 0.001). There was an increase in the serum level of sFas from the first steps of pre-neoplastic lesions to gastric adenocarcinoma (P < 0.001). Patients who had no lymph node involvement (N0) showed significantly higher serum levels of sFas compared to others (P = 0.044).


CONCLUSIONS
Production of sFas may play a critical role in the carcinogenesis of intestinal-type gastric cancer. sFas serum level may serve as a non-invasive tool for early diagnosis of gastric cancer.
Department of Internal Medicine, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Samaneh
S
Boroumand-Noughabi
Hamid Reza
HR
Sima
Kamran
K
Ghaffarzadehgan
Mostafa
M
Jafarzadeh
Hamid Reza
HR
Raziee
Hanieh
H
Hosseinnezhad
Omeed
O
Moaven
Mohammad Taghi
MT
Rajabi-Mashhadi
Amir Abbas
AA
Azarian
Mojtaba
M
Mashhadinejad
Jalil
J
Tavakkol-Afshari
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000097:blood*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C491901:FAS protein, human; C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D019014:fas Receptor