[Relationship between c-kit mRNA expression and prognosis in patients with rectal carcinoma].

Objective: To investigate the correlation between c-kit mRNA expression and prognosis in patients with rectal carcinoma. Methods: The expression of c-kit mRNA in rectal carcinoma tissues(n=66) was detected by multiplex branched-DNA liquid chip method. According to the expression level, the patients were classified into the c-kit mRNA high expression group and the low group. We analyzed the relationship between the c-kit mRNA expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients, as well as the factors affecting patients'prognosis. Results: Of the 66 rectal carcinoma patients, 18(27.3%)cases were c-kit mRNA high expression. No significant correlation was found between the c-kit mRNA expression and gender, age, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen, preoperative hemoglobin, distance to verge, lymph node metastasis, tumor thrombus, T stage, TNM stage and tumor differentiation (P>0.05). In follow-up, 34 patients died, 32 patients and 36 patients were recurrence or metastasis. The 1-, 3-, 5-year overall survival(OS) of c-kit mRNA high expression group were 100.0%, 77.8%, 77.8%, respectively, while those of the low one were 93.8%, 56.3%, 45.8%, respectively. The difference was statistically significant(P=0.025). Lymph node metastasis, T stage and TNM stage were also significant associated with OS(P<0.05). The 1-, 3-, 5-year disease free rate (DFS)of the c-kit mRNA high expression group were 100.0%, 77.8% and 77.8%, respectively, while those of the low one were 77.1%、43.8% and 41.7%, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was significant (P=0.044). As a reslut, c-kit mRNA expression (P=0.038) and TNM stage (P=0.039) were the independent prognostic factors affecting the OS in rectal cancer patients. Conclusions: Low expression of c-kit was associated with poor prognosis of rectal carcinoma. And the mechanism underlying this phenomenon deserves further exploration.

Expression and prognostic roles of magnesium-dependent phosphatase-1 in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths and has a poor prognosis after diagnosis. Previous studies showed that Magnesium-Dependent Phosphatase-1 (MDP-1) might be a key component for glycosylation in human protein repair, and an alteration of its function has been involved in some aspects of cellular metabolic networks linked to either normal or pathological processe. In this study, we investigate the MDP-1 status in patients with gastric carcinoma, and determine the potential relationship between MDP-1 and clinical outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred and seventy-one consecutive patients with stage I-III gastric carcinoma who had received a D2 gastrectomy were recruited. The MDP-1 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. RESULTS: We generate an IHC score on a continuous scale of 0-7. The IHC cutoff point generated by ROC analysis and the threshold IHC score was 2. Low MDP-1 expression was scored for 61 (35.7%) and high MDP-1 expression for 110 (64.3%) patients. We saw a significant down-regulation of MDP-1 expression in G3-4 and stage III tumor tissue compared with G1-2 and stage I-II tumors, p=0.023 and p=0.047. In univariate survival analysis, high expression of MDP-1 predicted a significantly better DFS (56.0 months vs. 25.0 months, p=0.029) and OS (59.0 months vs. 41.0 months, p=0.043) compared with low expression. In a multivariate analysis, the tumor stage was a significant predictor for DFS and OS even after adjustment for all other covariates. The MDP-1 status was a joint predictor for DFS and OS with a multivariate HR 0.728, 95% CI 0.530-0.999, p=0.049 and a multivariate HR 0.745, 95% CI 0.543-1.022, p=0.068, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that down-regulation of MDP-1 expression was correlated with poorly differentiated carcinoma and later tumor stage, and it predicted a significantly poorer DFS and OS. Down-regulation of MDP-1 expression was a predictor of a poor prognosis for gastric cancer patients, and it may refer to tumor cells that have lost a protective enzymatic system.