Abnormal expression of E-cadherin in tumor cells is associated with poor prognosis of gastric carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), c-Met, and E-cadherin with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in gastric carcinoma (GC).


METHODS
114 specimens were collected from GC patients and expression of HGF, c-Met, and E-cadherin in tissue microarray was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Correlation between immunostainings and clinicopathological parameters, follow-up data of patients, was analyzed statistically.


RESULTS
Abnormal E-cadherin expression was found in 60.5% (69/114) and associated with tumor depth (P = 0.003), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001) and advanced clinical stage (P = 0.001). High-expression of HGF and c-Met were found in 64.0% (73/114) and 82.4% (94/114), respectively. High c-Met expression was significantly associated with advanced clinical stage (P = 0.001) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.011) of GC. In univariate survival analysis, high-expression of HGF and c-Met, and abnormal E-cadherin were significantly associated with poor prognosis of GC patients. However, only abnormal E-cadherin expression (P = 0.001) and tumor depth (P = 0.010) emerged as strong independent prognostic factors for overall survival of GC patients.


CONCLUSIONS
We found significant correlation among HGF/c-Met, E-cadherin expression and worse prognosis of patients with GC. Abnormal E-cadherin expression may serve as an independent predictive factor for prognosis of GC patients.
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yin
Y
Li
Chuang-Qi
CQ
Chen
Yu-Long
YL
He
Shi-Rong
SR
Cai
Dong-Jie
DJ
Yang
Wei-Ling
WL
He
Jian-Bo
JB
Xu
Wen-Hua
WH
Zan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000378:metabolism; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology
D015820:Cadherins; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met