[Clinical results of vagina vasorum lymph node dissection and non-vagina vasorum lymph node dissection in gastric cancer after radical operation].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the results of vagina vasorum lymph node dissection (VLND) and non-vagina vasorum lymph node dissection (NVLND) in patients with gastric cancer after radical operation. METHODS: A total of 759 cases of evaluable patients with gastric cancer, operated from June 1994 to April 2005, were retrospectively analyzed. Of which, 627 cases underwent radical gastrectomy: 215 patients received VLND and 412 cases received NVLND. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, operative complications and survival rate were recorded and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The 5- and 10-year overall accumulative survival rates of VLND group and NVLND group were 55.4% and 51.2%, 39.1%and 36.8%, respectively (all P < 0.05). No significant differences in intraoperative blood transfusion (loss), operation time, operative complication rate was found between the two groups. The 5- and 10-year accumulative survival in patients with a tumor of phase N0-N2, T2-T4, Ib-IV in VLND groups were all significant higher than those in NVLND group. CONCLUSIONS: VLND is a safe technique in advanced gastric cancer, it dose not prolong operation time or increase operative complications but improves survival.

Expression and prognostic impact of PRL-3 in lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer: its molecular mechanism was investigated using artificial microRNA interference.

High PRL-3 expression had been reported to have close association with lymph node metastasis (LNM) of gastric cancer. However, the prognostic significance of highly expressing PRL-3 in LNM of human gastric cancer and the role in the metastasis remain unclear. Our study examined PRL-3 expression both in the LNM (n = 107) and in the primary lesion (n = 137) of gastric cancer, and compared the overall survival rates. RNA interference, induced by recombinant plasmid pcDNA.rPRL3-miR expressing artificial PRL-3 miRNA, was employed to knockdown PRL-3 expression in human SGC7901 gastric cancer cells. Invasion assay and migration assay in vitro were conducted to determine the role of PRL-3 in the metastasis. The role of PRL-3 in the proliferation of SGC7901 cells and tumor growth were also determined. We observed that high PRL-3 expression was more frequently detected in the LNM than in the matched primary lesion (72.9 vs. 47.7%, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the overall survival rate of the patients with high expression of PRL-3 in the LNM was significantly less than those with moderate/low expression (p = 0.003). Importantly, knockdown of PRL-3 can significantly reduce both invasion and migration potencies of SGC7901 cells (p < 0.001), and significantly suppressed the proliferation of SGC7901 cells and slowed down the tumor growth (p < 0.001). It was concluded that high expression of PRL-3 in the LNM had a negative impact on the prognosis of the patients, and plays important roles in LNM of gastric cancer and the tumor growth, which can be a potential therapeutic target and a prognostic factor.

[Analysis of long-term results of radical gastrectomy combining splenectomy for gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of radical excision combining splenectomy on prognosis of the patients with gastric cancer. METHODS: Between June 1994 and March 2004, 692 patients were operated on for gastric cancer and registered into gastric cancer database. Radical excision (D2, D3 or D4) combining splenectomy for gastric cancer was performed in 45 cases. 343 cases were selected simultaneously for comparison according to the resembling rules in sex, age, tumor size, location, serosa invasion, Borrmann type and range of lymph node dissection. Clinicopathological factors affecting lymph node metastasis, patterns of lymph node metastasis, 5-year survival rate after radical excision combined with splenectomy for gastric cancer were compared. RESULTS: Lymph node metastasis rate of splenic hilus was 15.6 percent. Among them, upper, middle and lower domain is 11.5 percent, 33.3 percent and zero respectively. It was significantly different between gastric adenocarcinoma in proximal and body of stomach and that in distal stomach, poor differentiation and adenocarcinoma anaplastic and well and moderately differentiation adenocarcinoma, Borrmann III and IV types and Borrmann I and II types, infiltrated depth in T(3) and T(4) and infiltrated depth in T(1) and T(2), clinical stages III and IV and clinical stages I and II. The average and median survival time between radical gastrectomy only and radical gastrectomy combining splenectomy for gastric cancer at stage I and II patients were significantly different, but at stage III and IV patients not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Spleen should be reserved for patients with gastric cancer at stage I and II, and radical excision combining splenectomy could only be performed at stage III and IV patients with cancer infiltrating body and tail of the pancreas, or lymph nodes metastasis in the splenic hilus. Indication of radical excision combining splenectomy for gastric cancer must be further study to clarify its efficacy.

[Relationship between heparanase mRNA expression in human gastric cancer and its clinicopathological features].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between heparanase mRNA expression and clinicopathological parameters in human gastric cancer. METHODS: RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of heparanase mRNA in 43 human gastric carcinomas and 10 adjacent normal gastric tissues. RESULTS: Heparanase mRNA was expressed in 29 of the 43 cases of gastric cancer with a positive rate of 67.4%, which was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal gastric tissues (P = 0.013). The expression level was higher in late-stage tumors (stage III and IV) than in early-stage tumors (stage I and II) (P = 0.001), in tumors with invasion to serosa than those without serosal invasion (P = 0.009), in tumors with lymph node metastasis than those without lymph node metastasis (P = 0.018), and in large-sized tumors than in small-sized ones (P = 0.009). The expression was not correlated with patients' age, sex, tumor location, histologic types, differentiation, peritoneal dissemination and liver metastasis (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Heparanase might play an important role in the development of invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer.

[Metastasis rates of lymph nodes and distribution in advanced gastric cancer and its clinical significance].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics of lymph node metastases in advanced gastric cancer and its clinical significance. METHODS: From April 2002 to July 2003, we studied 91 patients with advanced gastric cancer who underwent radical gastrectomy and lymphadenectomy from which specimens were obtained during surgery. Then, collection of dissected lymph node, histopathological and immunohistological studies were performed to detect the lymph node metastasis rates and calculation. In addition, to analyze the relationship between lymph node metastasis rates and tumor diameters, TNM classification, Borrmann analysis, tumor localization and the extent of lymph node resection. RESULTS: Among 91 patients with advanced gastric cancer, lymph node metastases were found in 63 patients (69.2%) with a total collection of 3149 lymph nodes and an average of 34.6 lymph nodes collected per patient. Lymph node metastasis rate was lower in tumor < 3 cm than that in tumor >3 cm. About TNM classification, lymph node metastases in advanced gastric cancer among patients in stage IIIa and stage IV was 100%, with the lymph node metastasis rates varying from 30.3% to 58.4%, which were significantly higher than that among patients in stage I and II (P<0.001). About Borrmann classification, lymph nodes metastasis in advanced gastric cancer among patients in Borrmann type III (79.6%) was higher than other Borrmann types, while in Borrmann type IV with the highest lymph node metastasis rate of 35.3% (P<0.05). Patients undergone lymph node dissection D(3) had higher lymph node metastases among patients and higher lymph node metastasis rate (88.2%, 38.0%) than patients in the D(1) and D(2) (P<0.05). Among 91 patients, 17 patients was found with micrometastasis (18.7%) from which 183 lymph nodes was collected, but no statistically significant difference between tumor location and micrometastasis was found (P>0.05). For tumor localization, lymph node metastases in proximal gastric cancer were more shown in station 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 16, with the highest metastasis rate in station 8 (68.1%). Lymph node metastases in middle gastric cancer were more shown in station 1, 3, 7, 12, 13 and 16, with the highest metastasis rate in station 3 (47.6%). Lymph node metastases in distal gastric cancer were more shown in station 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 16, with the highest metastasis rate in station 16 (83.3%). CONCLUSION: Metastasis among patients and lymph node metastasis rates are significantly correlated with the severity of gastric malignancy and they may be valuable guideline to evaluate the extension of lymph nodes dissection in gastric cancer.

[Prediction of lymph node metastasis with binary logistic regression in gastric carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate more specific markers to predict the lymph node metastasis in gastric carcinoma. METHODS: The expression of heparanase mRNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 43 cases with gastric cancer. The expressions of CD44V6, MMP-7, nm23 and syndecan-1 protein were examined by streptavidin-peroxidase (SP) two-step method. Clinicopathological features influencing lymphatic metastasis such as age,sex,tumor size,tumor location, Borrmann classification, histological type, differentiation and serosal infiltration were also analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-seven cases (62.8%) in 43 gastric cancer patients had lymphatic metastasis. The incidence of metastatic lymph nodes was(36.3 +/- 30.8)%. The median incidence was 19%. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size, serosal infiltration, expressions of heparanase mRNA, CD44V6, nm23 and syndecan-1 protein were risk factors for lymph node metastasis in gastric carcinoma. Multivariate analysis showed expressions of nm23 and syndecan-1 protein, serosal infiltration were independent factors for lymph node metastasis. CONCLUSION: Gastric cancer with serosal infiltration, positive expressions of nm23 and syndecan-1 has greater possibility of lymph node metastasis.