Clinical significance of stanniocalcin expression in tissue and serum of gastric cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
Stanniocalcin (STC) has been recognized as a potential biomarker in a variety of cancers. The aim of this study was to examine STC1 and STC2 expression in tumor and serum samples from gastric cancer (GC) patients.


METHODS
A total of 83 GC patients treated with radical resection were enrolled in this study. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect STC protein expression in paired tumor and adjacent normal tissues. Serum STC levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was constructed to describe diagnostic specificity and sensitivity.


RESULTS
Both of STC1 and STC2 protein expression were upregulated in GC tissues compared with that in normal ones. Moreover, the high/moderate of STC1 protein was significantly associated with lymph metastasis, clinical stage and adverse 3-year progression-free survival (PFS). In addition, serum STC1 and STC2 expression in GC patients were much higher than that in patients with benign gastric disease, which decreased at postoperative 7-10 days. The sensitivity of serum STC protein also showed superiority over CEA and CA19-9.


CONCLUSIONS
STC upregulation plays an important role in GC development, and serum STC1 and STC2 might function as promising tumor markers for GC diagnosis and prognosis.
1 Department of General Surgery, 101 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Wuxi 214044, China ; 2 Department of Medical Oncology, 3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Zheng
Z
Fang
1 Department of General Surgery, 101 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Wuxi 214044, China ; 2 Department of Medical Oncology, 3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Zhiqiang
Z
Tian
1 Department of General Surgery, 101 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Wuxi 214044, China ; 2 Department of Medical Oncology, 3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Kunlun
K
Luo
1 Department of General Surgery, 101 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Wuxi 214044, China ; 2 Department of Medical Oncology, 3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Haizhu
H
Song
1 Department of General Surgery, 101 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Wuxi 214044, China ; 2 Department of Medical Oncology, 3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Jun
J
Yi
Gastric cancer (GC); diagnosis; immunohistochemistry; prognosis; stanniocalcin (STC)