title: c-MYC amplification in mucinous gastric carcinoma: a possible genetic alteration leading to deeply invasive tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with mucinous gastric carcinoma (MGC) usually have a poor prognosis, largely due to the advanced stage of disease. In this study, we evaluated the effects of c-MYC amplification on tumor stage and disease-specific survival of 128 patients with MGC and compared the results with those of 302 patients with non-mucinous gastric carcinoma (non-MGC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for c-MYC was performed on 430 GC samples. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) analysis for c-MYC was also performed after tumor microdissection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  c-MYC amplification was found in 10.2% of MGCs and 6.0% of non-MGCs. c-MYC amplification was more frequently found in MGCs of higher tumor stage than in MGCs of lower stage (p=0.038). c-MYC amplification in MGC was correlated with greater invasion depth (p=0.007). The mean survival time of patients with c-MYC amplification was shorter than that of patients without c-MYC amplification in MGC. Real-time q-PCR results showed that the calculated c-MYC/GAPDH ratios were higher in c-MYC-amplified MGC than in c-MYC-non-amplified MGC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that c-MYC amplification in MGC is highly correlated with advanced stage and deeply invasive MGC. This suggests that c-MYC amplification in MGC could be a possible genetic alteration contributing to the frequent presentation of advanced-stage MGC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Dongguk University, Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jinwon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Eun Ji
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Eo Jin
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Geon Kook
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Woo Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005784:Gene Amplification; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D042282:Microdissection; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor