N/A. N/A

Clinical significance of expression of trefoil factor 3 in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To investigate clinical significance of expression of trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS: The expression of TFF3 was examined by immunohistochemical method on tissue chips containing 90 cases of HCC and 90 cases of non-tumor hepatic tissues.

RESULTS: The positive rate of TFF3 expression in HCC was significantly higher than that in non-tumor hepatic tissues (62.1% vs 33.8%, P < 0.01). TFF3 expression was significantly correlated with tumor size, TNM stage (P = 0.026 and 0.015) and relapse-free survival (P = 0.043).

CONCLUSION: TFF3 may play an important role in the development and progression of HCC, and the expression of TFF3 might be a potential marker for evaluating the prognosis of HCC.

Loss of fragile histidine triad protein expression and its clinicopathological significance in gastric cancer

AIM: To investigate the expression of fragile histidine triad protein, Fhit and the possible relationship between its expression and clinicopathological indices in gastric carcinoma.

METHODS: Fhit protein expression was detected in 76 cases of gastric carcinoma, 58 dysplasia and 10 normal mucosae by immunohistochemical method to analyse its relationship to histological grade, clinical stage, metastatic status and prognosis.

RESULTS: The loss of Fhit protein expression was detected in 48/76 (63.2%) cases of cancer tissue, 36/58 (62.1%)cases of adjacent dysplastic tissue and 0/10 cases of normal gastric mucosa. There was a significant difference in the expression of Fhit protein between cancer or adjacent dysplastic tissue and normal gastric mucosa (P=0.000). It was also showed that loss of Fhit protein expression was found first in 35.7% (10/28) of grade I-II, and in 79.2% (38/48) of grade III (P = 0.000); second in 43.8% (14/32)of stage I-II, whereas in 77.3% (34/44) of stage III-IV (P = 0.004); and last in 36.4% (8/22) of tumors without metastasis but in 74.1% (40/54) of those with metastasis (P = 0.003). The significant difference in the loss of expression of Fhit was found between cancers on different histological grade, clinical stage and metastatic status, respectively. Follow-up data showed that there was a significant difference in median survival time between carcinomas with loss of Fhit (33 mos) and those without (71 mos) (Log rank = 20.78; P = 0.000).

CONCLUSION: Fhit protein is an important tumor suppressor protein. Loss of Fhit protein expression may be associated with carcinogenesis, invasion, metastasis and prognosis in gastric carcinoma.

N/A

N/A