Open AccessSnail is an independent prognostic predictor for progression and patient survival of gastric cancer
Author(s) -
He Hongyong,
Chen Weidong,
Wang Xuefei,
Wang Cong,
Liu Fenglin,
Shen Zhenbin,
Xu Jiejie,
Gu Jianxin,
Sun Yihong
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
cancer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 1347-9032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2012.02295.x
Subject(s) - snail , cancer , biology , immunohistochemistry , tumor progression , metastasis , oncology , pathology , cancer research , medicine , ecology
The present study investigated the clinical significance of S nail, a zinc‐finger transcription factor, in the development and progression of gastric cancer. To elucidate the relationship between S nail expression and dedifferentiation status with cancer stem cell phenotype in gastric cancer cells, we used western blot analysis, RT ‐ PCR , quantitative real‐time PCR and flow cytometry. Immunohistochemistry staining and evaluation of S nail expression in 10 human normal gastric samples versus 103 clinicopathologically characterized gastric cancer tissues followed by statistical analyses were applied to evaluate the prognostic value of S nail expression for progression and patient survival of gastric carcinomas. The results showed that functional S nail expression interlinks dedifferentiation status with cancer stem cell phenotype in gastric cancer cells. In addition, expression levels of S nail in gastric cancer tissues were significantly associated with tumor cell differentiation, local tumor growth, lymph node status, distant metastasis and tumor stage. The overall survival rate of gastric cancer patients with high S nail expression was significantly lower than for those patients with low S nail expression. Multivariate C ox regression analyses showed that S nail expression is an independent prognostic predictor for patient survival of gastric carcinomas. Thus, our data suggest that S nail expression could be a reliable independent prognostic factor to predict gastric carcinoma progression, which might open a new avenue for potential clinical intervention with functional S nail expression in gastric cancer patients. ( Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 1296–1303)