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Evidences have been provided that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) act as key molecules in epigenetic regulation and are involved in the development process of cancer in recent studies. HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR), a long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA), functions as a molecular scaffold to link and target two histone modification complexes PRC2 and LSD1, then reprograms chromatin states by couples histone H3K27 methylation and H3K4 demethylation for epigenetic gene silencing to promote cancer metastasis. HOTAIR, regarded as an oncogene, is pervasively overexpressed in most solid cancers and correlated with tumor invasion, progression, metastasis, and poor prognosis, and HOTAIR has been proven to play a critical role in most biological process of cancer and would be a potential new target in cancer therapy.

The objective of this study was to explore the prognostic prediction rationality of the seventh edition N stage for gastric cancer (GC) patients who underwent the limited lymphadenectomy. Clinicopathological data of 769 GC patients who underwent the curative resection between 1997 and 2006 were analyzed for demonstration that the seventh edition N stage had the significant superiorities of prognostic prediction to the patients who underwent the limited lymphadenectomy. Although the extent of lymphadenectomy was associated with the overall survival (OS) of gastric cancer (GC) patients, the N stages of the seventh edition of the TNM Classification were identified as the most intensively independent predictors of GC prognosis. Using stratum analysis, the 5-year survival rate of patients who underwent limited lymphadenectomy was observed to be significantly different from that of patients who underwent extended lymphadenectomy, regardless of the extent of lymph node metastasis. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that combining the extents of lymph node metastasis and lymphadenectomy could improve the prediction accuracy of patient survival status. Case control analysis showed that regardless of the extent of lymphadenectomy, the seventh edition N stages featured significant superiority for OS evaluation of GC patients. The seventh edition N stage had the prediction rationality for the OS of GC patients who underwent the limited lymphadenectomy.

Suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS-3), a multifunctional cytokine, is able to inhibit cell growth and migration by blocking the Janus kinase signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling (JAK/STAT) activation in oncogenesis. Although the STAT-3 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis from gastric cancer (GC), the implication of SOCS-3 expression in GC is not clearly elucidated. In this study, SOCS-3, STAT-3, and pSTAT-3 were evaluated in GC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues of 107 patients who underwent curative surgery by immunohistochemistry. Further, SOCS-3 and STAT-3 mRNA levels were also detected simultaneously. In addition, survival analysis was performed between clinicopathologic variables and prognosis of GC patients. Finally, correlative analysis was adopted for demonstration the best predicator of the survival independent factor. From the results, we demonstrated that only the lymph node metastasis was the independent predictor of the overall survival (OS) of GC patients, although SOCS-3, STAT-3, and other variables were significantly relative to OS. With multivariate logistical regression analysis, SOCS-3, STAT-3, and the status of extragastric nodal metastasis were identified to be the independent factors of the lymph node metastasis from GC. Ultimately, the SOCS-3 was the best predicator of lymph node metastasis from GC identified with the nominal regression analysis. Therefore, SOCS-3 should be considered as a potential indicator for prediction the lymph node metastasis from GC.

This study aims to explore the detailed signal transduction mechanism of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) that contributes to the progression of gastric cancer (GC). The STAT3 expression, phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) expression, and EGFR expression were evaluated by using molecular detection methods of GC tissues, adjacent non-tumor tissues, GC cell lines, and normal gastric cell line. Cetuximab was administered in each cell line to demonstrate the correlations among the above biomarkers. Survival and relationship analyses were adopted to demonstrate the important mechanism of EGFR/STAT3 signaling pathway contributing to the progression of GC. STAT3 expression, pSTAT3 expression, and EGFR expression in GC tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent non-tumor tissues, respectively. Similarly, we found that STAT3 expression, pSTAT3 expression, and EGFR expression were much higher in GC cell lines than those in GES-1 cell line. With cetuximab administration, both STAT3 expression and pSTAT3 expression in all GC cell lines decreased simultaneously. With Cox proportional hazards model analysis, pSTAT3 expression was identified as the independent predictors of the overall survival of GC patients, as was EGFR expression. Furthermore, we found that there were significant associations between STAT3 expression, pSTAT3 expression, EGFR expression, and lymph node metastasis in GC tissues. The activation of EGFR/STAT3 signaling pathway may contribute to lymph node metastasis, which can promote the progression of GC.

Many issues of middle-third gastric cancer need to be address for obtaining preferably clinical treatment. The objective of this retrospective study was to analyze clinicopathologic characteristics and results of surgery for 113 middle-third gastric cancer patients admitted to our hospital. Retrospective cohort analyses of clinicopathologic data and postoperative prognosis of 113 middle-third gastric cancer patients who underwent curative resection between January 1997 and December 2003 were reviewed. Compared with lower-third gastric cancer patients, middle-third gastric cancer patients had significantly lower 5-year survival rate (P < 0.001) and higher recurrence rate (P < 0.001). With the Cox proportional hazards model analysis, the types of gastrectomy (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.495, P = 0.012) and ratio between metastatic and dissected lymph nodes (RML) (HR = 1.681, P < 0.001) were identified as the independent predictors of overall survival (OS) of middle-third gastric cancer patients. Besides, only RML (HR = 3.026, P < 0.001) was an independent predictor of recurrence for middle-third gastric cancer patients after surgery identified using the logistic regression analysis. The prognosis of middle-third gastric cancer was significantly worse than lower-third gastric cancer. RML was a key indicator for OS and recurrence of middle-third gastric cancer.