Significance of MUC1 expression in biopsy specimens of submucosal invasive gastric carcinoma: The association with lymph node metastasis

Prognostic and clinicopathological significance of mucin family members expression in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis

Background

Mucin family members have been reported to be widely expressed in gastric carcinoma with diverse functions. Several important mucins exert the function of tumorigenesis or progression in gastric cancer (GC). Here, we conduct this meta-analysis to evaluate the association between mucin expression and clinicopathological features in GC.

Methods

Literature searches were performed in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and ISI Web of Science, and, finally, 28 studies met our criteria. Odds ratios or hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to evaluate the effect quantity. We analyzed the expression of MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 and their clinicopathological characteristics separately at the same time.

Results

Twenty-eight studies that contain 4,603 patients were included in our meta-analysis. MUC1 was associated with gender, Lauren classification, depth of tumor invasion, TNM, vascular invasion, lymph metastasis, and lymphatic invasion, WHO grade, as well as the 5-year survival rate. MUC2 was significantly correlated with lymphatic invasion and WHO grade. MUC5AC was highly positive in gender, depth of tumor invasion, WHO grade, TNM, lymph metastasis, and lymphatic invasion. Moreover, cases with decreased MUC5AC expression were correlated with less 5-year survival. MUC6 was only related with lymphatic invasion.

Conclusion

Our meta-analysis showed that MUC1 and MUC5AC had prognostic value in GC detected by immunohistochemistry. MUC1 and MUC5AC were also associated with some other significant clinicopathological parameters. Moreover, MUC2 and MUC6 also exert their influence in lymphatic invasion. However, further enlarged study awaits to verify our conclusion to deeply explore the role of mucin family members in GC.

Differential gene expression identifies KRT7 and MUC1 as potential metastasis-specific targets in sarcoma

BACKGROUND

Despite numerous discoveries regarding the molecular genesis and progression of primary cancers, the biology of metastasis remains poorly understood. Compared to very large numbers of circulating tumor cells that are now known to accompany nearly all cancers, a relatively limited number of lesions actually develop in most patients with metastases. We hypothesized that phenotypic changes driven by differential gene expression in a finite subpopulation of tumor cells render those cells capable of metastasis and sought to identify key pathways through analysis of gene expression in primary and metastatic lesions from the same patients.

METHODS

We compared whole-genome expression in 4 matched samples of primary and metastatic sarcoma, then evaluated candidate genes with differential expression via quantitative PCR in 30 additional matched sets, tumor tissue immunostaining, siRNA loss-of-function in a sarcoma cell migration assay, and clinical correlation with overall and disease-free survival after metastasectomy.

RESULTS

Comparison of microarray signals identified differential expression of cell adhesion genes, including upregulation of KRT7 and MUC1 in metastases; KRT7 and MUC1 upregulation was confirmed in 22 (73%) and 20 (67%) matched sets of metastatic/primary tumors, respectively. Silencing of KRT7 and MUC1 via targeted siRNAs suppressed sarcoma cell migration in vitro, and a significant correlation (two-sided) was observed between both KRT7 and MUC1 expression in metastases and overall patient survival.

CONCLUSION

KRT7 and MUC1 may play a significant role in enabling sarcoma metastasis, and they may therefore be important prognostic biomarkers as well as potential targets for therapeutic prevention of metastasis.