Expression of astrocyte elevated gene-1 closely correlates with the angiogenesis of gastric cancer.
Previous studies have demonstrated that astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is overexpressed in several cancer types and that its upregulation may promote cell proliferation, cell transformation and tumor progression. The present study investigated the expression and prognostic value of AEG-1 in primary gastric cancer (GC) as well as its role in angiogenesis. The results obtained from real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blotting revealed the upregulation of AEG-1 mRNA (P=0.007) and protein expression (P<0.001) in the majority of cancerous tissues compared with matched adjacent non-cancerous gastric tissues. To further investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic roles of AEG-1, immunohistochemical analysis of 216 GC tissue blocks was performed. The results showed that high AEG-1 expression closely correlated with differentiation degree (P<0.001 ), T stage (P<0.001), N stage (P=0.003) and M stage (P=0.013). Consistent with the abovementioned results, AEG-1 upregulation was also found to significantly correlate with poor survival in GC patients (P<0.001). Furthermore, carcinomas with elevated AEG-1 expression demonstrated high vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvessel density, which was labeled by cluster of differentiation 34. In addition, an AEG-1 siRNA assay in MGC-803 cells showed that the AEG-1 gene may promote VEGF and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α protein and mRNA expression. The results of the current study indicated that AEG-1 may serve as a valuable prognostic marker for GC and may be involved in regulating tumor angiogenesis.
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, P.R. China.
Shuhua
S
Li
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510655, P.R. China.
Xuefeng
X
Guo
Zhangzhou Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Zhangzhou, Fujian 363000, P.R. China.
Xudong
X
Ma
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, P.R. China.
Cuilan
C
Tang
Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, P.R. China.
Zunfu
Z
Ke
Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Science, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China.
Wenhua
W
Huang
angiogenesis; astrocyte elevated gene-1; gastric cancer; hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; vascular endothelial growth factor