Clinicopathological correlation and prognostic significance of sonic hedgehog protein overexpression in human gastric cancer.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

This study investigated the expression of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) protein in gastric cancer, and correlated it with clinicopathological parameters. The prognostic significance of Shh protein was analyzed.

METHODS:

Shh protein expression was evaluated in 113 cases of gastric cancer and 60 cases of normal gastric mucosa. The immunoreactivity was scored semi quantitatively as: 0 = absent; 1 = weak; 2 = moderate; and 3 = strong. All cases were further classified into two groups, namely non-overexpression group with score 0 or 1, and overexpression group with score 2 or 3. The overexpression of Shh protein was correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Survival analysis was then performed to determine the Shh protein prognostic significance in gastric cancer.

RESULTS:

In immunohistochemistry study, nineteen (31.7%) normal gastric mucosa revealed Shh protein overexpression, while eighty-one (71.7%) gastric cancer revealed overexpression. The expression of Shh protein were significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in normal gastric mucosa (P < 0.001), which was statistically correlated with age (P = 0.006), tumor differentiation (P < 0.001), depth of invasion (P = 0.042), pathologic staging (P = 0.017), and nodal metastasis (P = 0.019). We found no significant difference in both overall and disease free survival rates between Shh overexpression and non-expression groups P = 0.168 and 0.071). However, Shh overexpression emerged as a significant independent prognostic factor in multivariate Cox regression analysis (hazard ratio 1.187, P = 0.041).

CONCLUSIONS:

Shh protein expression is upregulated and is statistically correlated with age, tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, pathologic staging, and nodal metastasis. The Shh protein overexpression is a significant independent prognostic factor in multivariate Cox regression analysis in gastric cancer.

• Authors: Yanyang Niu, Fang Li, Bo Tang, Yan Shi, Yingxue Hao, Peiwu Yu
• Journal: International journal of clinical and experimental pathology (Int J Clin Exp Pathol) Vol. 7 Issue 8 Pg. 5144-53 ( 2014) ISSN: 1936-2625 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25197388 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Hedgehog Proteins
• SHH protein, human

Topics

• Adenocarcinoma (metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Adult
• Aged
• Biomarkers, Tumor (analysis)
• Disease-Free Survival
• Female
• Hedgehog Proteins (analysis, biosynthesis)
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Kaplan-Meier Estimate
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prognosis
• Proportional Hazards Models
• Stomach Neoplasms (metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Up-Regulation
• Young Adult