title: A breakdown of the Hippo pathway in gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Hippo pathway is a newly discovered signaling pathway. In mammals, the Hippo pathway was reported to be a tumor-suppressor signaling that inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis. Inactivation of the Hippo pathway resulted in massive cell growth, enlargement in organ size and eventually cancer formation. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of core component proteins of the Hippo pathway, Mst1/2,S Sav1 and Lats1, in normal gastric mucosa, intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer, and to explore the role of the Hippo pathway in gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-step immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of Mst1/2, Sav1 and Lats1 in 46 cases of normal gastric mucosa, 37 cases of intestinal metaplasia and 78 cases of gastric cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of Mst1/2 and Lats1 was down-regulated in gastric cancer compared with that in normal gastric epithelium and adenoma. The Sav1 expression showed an increased trend from normal mucosa through intestinal metaplasia to gastric cancer, though there was no statistically significant difference. The expression of Sav1 and Lats1 in gastric cancer with lymph node metastasis was significantly lower than that without lymph node metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A breakdown of the Hippo pathway may play a role in tumorigenesis and metastasis of gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastoenterology, Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhi Peng
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jin Shui
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiao Ying
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C415864:SAV1 protein, human; C082332:macrophage stimulating protein; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; C092745:LATS1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases