title: Prognostic impact of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase expression in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was designed to investigate the expression of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-MAPK/Erk1 and Erk2) and its correlation with outcomes in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  p-MAPK was detected by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies in a total of 223 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples obtained from 156 patients who received first-line chemotherapy in a phase III trial.
  
  
  RESULTS
  p-MAPK was positive in 93 (59.6%) and negative in 63 (40.4%) of the 156 patients evaluated. Similar rates of p-MAPK positivity were found in primaries (53%) and metastatic lesions (61.4%). Overall survival was significantly shorter in p-MAPK-positive patients (13.7 vs. 8.5 months) in the univariate analysis. However, this prognostic value disappeared as a trend in the multivariate analysis (p = 0.1). There was a strong, positive correlation between p-MAPK and the MIB-1 proliferation index, but MIB-1 did not predict outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  p-MAPK expression could be a potential negative prognostic parameter in patients with metastatic gastric cancer treated with chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Krankenhaus Nordwest, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. atmaca.akin@khnw.de
authors.forename: Akin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atmaca
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pauligk
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
authors.forename: Hans-Michael
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Altmannsberger
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jäger
authors.forename: Salah-Eddin
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Al-Batran
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C513496:MIB1 ligase, human; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C535150:MAPK1 protein, human; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3