1. Asporin Expression on Stromal Cells and/or Cancer Cells Might Be A Useful Prognostic Marker in Patients with Diffuse-Type Gastric Cancer.
- Author
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Yashiro, Masakazu, Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi, Yamamoto, Yurie, Tsujio, Gen, Nishimura, Sadaaki, Sera, Tomohiro, Sugimoto, Atsushi, Kushiyama, Shuhei, Kasashima, Hiroaki, Fukuoka, Tatsunari, Sakurai, Katsunobu, Toyokawa, Takahiro, Kubo, Naoshi, and Ohira, Masaichi
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STROMAL cells , *STOMACH cancer , *CANCER cells , *OVERALL survival , *CANCER invasiveness - Abstract
Background: Asporin (ASPN), a member of the proteoglycan family, has been shown to have a close correlation with cancer progression. It is not known whether ASPN is an oncogenic driver or a tumor suppressor in human gastric cancer. We sought herein to determine the relationship between ASPN expression and clinicopathological features of gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: A total of 296 gastric cancer patients (diffuse type, n = 144; intestinal type, n = 152) were enrolled. The ASPN expression level in each case was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results: ASPN was mainly found on stromal cells, especially on fibroblasts in tumor stroma, i.e., cancer-associated fibroblasts. The ASPN expression on either cancer cells or stromal cells was significantly high in macroscopic scirrhous-type tumors (p < 0.001) and histologically abundant stroma-type tumors (p < 0.001). Interestingly, a Kaplan-Meier survival curve of the 144 cases of diffuse-type gastric cancer revealed a significantly poorer prognosis in patients with ASPN-positive expression (p = 0.043; log rank) compared to those with ASPN-negative expression, but the prognoses were not significantly different in these subgroups of the 152 cases of intestinal-type gastric cancer. A multivariate analysis with respect to overall survival showed that ASPN expression on stromal cells and/or cancer cells was significantly correlated with overall survival in patients with diffuse-type gastric cancer (p = 0.041). Conclusion: In gastric cancer, ASPN was expressed mainly on stromal cells and partially on cancer cells. ASPN expression on stromal cells and/or cancer cells might be a useful prognostic marker in patients with diffuse-type gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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