Open AccessPrognostic significance of KLF4 expression in gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Isaya Hashimoto,
Takuya Nagata,
Satoshi Sekine,
Makoto Moriyama,
Kazuto Shibuya,
Satoru Hojo,
Kunihiko Matsui,
Isaku Yoshioka,
Tomoyuki Okumura,
Takashi Hori,
Yutaka Shimada,
Kazuhiro Tsukada
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
oncology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1792-1082
pISSN - 1792-1074
DOI - 10.3892/ol.2016.5499
Subject(s) - homeobox protein nanog , sox2 , oncogene , klf4 , cancer , molecular medicine , cancer research , oncology , tissue microarray , immunohistochemistry , biology , metastasis , medicine , transcription factor , induced pluripotent stem cell , pathology , cell cycle , embryonic stem cell , gene , genetics
To understand the roles of pluripotent stem cell-inducing genes in gastric cancer, the expression of Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), Nanog, octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4), avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (c-Myc) and sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) was examined using the newly developed gastric carcinoma tissue microarray. The associations between the immunohistochemical expression levels of the pluripotency-inducing factors and the clinicopathological data of 108 patients with gastric cancer were analyzed. No associations were identified between the expression levels of the five pluripotency-inducing factors and the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification or clinicopathological characteristics of the patients. In addition, multivariate analysis revealed no association of Nanog, Oct4, SOX2 or c-Myc with the prognosis of the gastric cancer patients; however, low expression of KLF4 was determined to be an independent negative prognostic factor (P=0.0331), particularly in patients who underwent R0 resection (TNM stages 2 and 3; P=0.0048). In summary, low KLF4 expression was found to be negatively associated with overall survival, and may therefore be a useful prognostic marker in gastric cancer patients.