title: Overexpression of S100A4 is closely associated with the progression and prognosis of gastric cancer in young patients.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the correlation of S100A4 expression with the progression, prognosis and clinical pathology of gastric cancer (GC) in young pateints. A total of 85 tumor tissues with corresponding adjacent normal tissues and 62 non-metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) with corresponding metastatic LNs were obtained from young GC patients (<40 years old) who underwent surgery between January 2001 and December 2006. The expression of S100A4 was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Differences in the expression of S100A4 mRNA or protein were observed among the GC tissues, matched normal gastric mucosa, non-metastatic LNs and metastatic LNs. The expression of S100A4 mRNA and protein in GC tissues and metastatic LNs was significantly higher compared with that in the matched normal gastric mucosa and non-metastatic LNs, respectively (P<0.05). The overexpression of S100A4 was significantly associated with parameters involved in tumor progression and poor prognosis, including tumor size (P=0.017), Lauren classification (P=0.002), histological classification (P= 0.010), histological differentiation (P= 0.000), Borrmann classification (P=0.020), tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P=0.000), LN metastasis (P=0.000) and distant metastasis (P=0.024). Multivariate analysis suggested that patient age (P=0.035), tumor size (P=0.002), TNM stage (P=0.001) and S100A4 upregulation (P=0.000) were independent prognostic indicators for the disease. The overexpression of S100A4 in young GC patients is significantly associated with the clinicopathological characteristics. S100A4 may be used as a biomarker to predict the progression and poor prognosis of GC in young patients.
authors.affiliation: Endoscopy Division, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital and City Key Laboratory of Tianjin Cancer Center, Tianjin 300060;
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ziquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuanxiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yunyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Xuewei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gaihong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: She
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Tianhui
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: S100A4; gastric cancer; immunohistochemistry; prognosis; progression; young patients