T-cadherin has been identified as a tumor-suppressor gene in several types of
cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the association of the expression of
T-cadherin with angiogenesis, and to evaluate its prognostic value for patients with primary
gastric cancer.
Gastric cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues from 166 patients receiving surgical resection were included in the present study. The expression of
T-cadherin was detected using immunohistochemistry, western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression of vascular
epidermal growth factor (
VEGF) was detected using immunohistochemistry, and its association with the expression of
T-cadherin was analyzed. In addition, the association between the expression of
T-cadherin and clinicopathological features were analyzed. The
mRNA and
protein expression levels of
T-cadherin were significantly lower in the
gastric cancer tissue compared with the corresponding adjacent normal tissue (P<0.05). The expression of
VEGF was not associated with the expression of
T-cadherin in the
gastric cancer tissue. The decreased
protein expression of
T-cadherin correlated with smoking, larger
tumor size (diameter, >4 cm),
lymph node metastasis and a higher
tumor-
lymph node-metastasis stage (P<0.05 or P<0.01). However, the expression of
T-cadherin was not correlated with gender, age, alcohol intake, Helecobacter pylori
infection or differentiation (P>0.05). The multivariate analysis demonstrated that the expression of
T-cadherin was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival rate of patients with
gastric cancer. This data suggested that the downregulation of
T-cadherin may contribute to
gastric cancer progression, representing a useful
biomarker for predicting the
biological behavior and prognosis of
gastric cancer. However, no significant association was observed between the expression of
VEGF and
T-cadherin.