Expression of stanniocalcin 1 as a potential biomarker of gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated stanniocalcin 1 (STC 1) expression to assess its clinical utility as a blood marker in patients with gastric cancer and evaluated its biological impact in terms of tumor aggressiveness.


METHODS
Blood specimens from 93 patients with gastric cancer and 21 normal healthy volunteers were assessed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for STC 1 mRNA expression.


RESULTS
The relative numbers of STC 1 mRNA copies were significantly higher in gastric cancer cell lines and in blood specimens from patients with gastric cancer than in blood specimens from healthy volunteers (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.003, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of STC 1 mRNA expression for discriminating patients with gastric cancer from healthy volunteers were 69.9 and 71.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivity for STC 1 mRNA was higher than that for serum carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9. The presence of STC 1 expression was significantly correlated with depth of tumor invasion and tumor stage (p = 0.032 and p = 0.013, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data strongly suggest that STC 1 is a potentially useful blood marker for predicting biological tumor aggressiveness in patients with gastric cancer.
Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Field of Oncology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan. arigami@m.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Takaaki
T
Arigami
Yoshikazu
Y
Uenosono
Sumiya
S
Ishigami
Takahiko
T
Hagihara
Naoto
N
Haraguchi
Daisuke
D
Matsushita
Shigehiro
S
Yanagita
Akihiro
A
Nakajo
Hiroshi
H
Okumura
Shuichi
S
Hokita
Shoji
S
Natsugoe
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D006023:Glycoproteins; C051795:teleocalcin