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World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2006; 12(44): 7188-7191
Published online Nov 28, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i44.7188
Expression of altered retinoblastoma protein inversely correlates with tumor invasion in gastric carcinoma
Nan-Hua Chou, Hui-Chun Chen, Nan-Song Chou, Ping-I Hsu, Hui-Hwa Tseng
Nan-Hua Chou, Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China
Hui-Chun Chen, Department of Radiation Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China
Nan-Song Chou, Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Foundation Hospital, Taiwan, China
Ping-I Hsu, Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China
Hui-Hwa Tseng, Department of Pathology, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China
Correspondence to: Nan-Hua Chou, MD, Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung 386, Ta-Chung 1st Rd., Kaohsiung, 813, Taiwan, China. nhchou@isca.vghks.gov.tw
Telephone: +886-7-5572834 Fax: +886-7-3455064
Received: September 23, 2006
Revised: September 28, 2006
Accepted: November 18, 2006
Published online: November 28, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the clinical and pathological significance of altered retinoblastoma (Rb) encoding protein (pRb) in gastric carcinoma.

METHODS: Expression of altered pRb was analyzed in 91 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS: Sixty-five percent (59/91) of the tumors were positively stained and the staining in tumor nuclei of gastric carcinoma ranged 0%-90%. Moreover, strong expression of altered pRb was found in 35% (6/17), 24% (5/21), 17% (8/46) and 0% (0/7) of T1, T2, T3 and T4 gastric carcinomas, respectively. Altered pRb expression was inversely correlated with the depth of tumor invasion (P = 0.047). Degree of immunoreactivity had no significant correlation with tumor grade, node metastasis and distant metastasis. In terms of prognostic significance, univariate analysis showed that poor differentiation [41 (66.1%) vs 34 (42.5%) P = 0.051], advanced tumor stage (P < 0.001) and weakly altered pRb expression [17 (80.5%) vs 58 (49.6%) P = 0.044] were associated with worse prognosis in these patients. However, multivariate analysis revealed that advanced tumor stage was the only independent poor prognostic factor (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The mutation of Rb gene is frequent in gastric carcinoma. The expression of altered pRb inversely correlates with tumor invasion and is not an independent prognostic marker in gastric adenocarcinoma.

Keywords: Gastric adenocarcinoma; Altered retinoblas-toma protein; Immunohistochemistry