Abstract 4028: Tenascin C in gastric cancer stroma is a predictive marker for postoperative prognosis

Background: Tenascin C, a glycoprotein in the extracellular matrix is reportedly associated with poor clinical outcome in several malignancies. We have previously reported that tenascin C in colorectal cancer stroma is a predictive marker for liver metastasis (Br J Cancer 117:1360-70, 2017). In this study, we evaluated the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of tenascin C expression in gastric cancer stroma. Materials and methods: Expression levels of tenascin C protein were immunohistochemically analyzed in 176 primary gastric cancer samples. Tenascin C staining intensity and relativity were classified into four scores and two groups, respectively. The correlation of the tenascin C staining intensity and relativity with clinicopathological factors, postoperative overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed. Results: There were positive correlations between the tenascin C staining intensity or relativity and tumor depth, lymphatic invasion, venous invasion, lymph node metastasis, pathological stage, high preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)>5ng/ml, and high preoperative carbohydrate antigen (CA19-9) >37U/ml. Multivariate analysis revealed that high tenascin C staining intensity significantly correlated with tumor invasion into the muscularis propria (p=0.015) and venous invasion (p=0.042), and that high tenascin C staining relativity correlated with venous invasion (p=0.013). Gastric cancer patients with high tenascin C staining intensity had significantly shorter postoperative OS (p Conclusions: Tenascin C protein expression in primary tumor stroma was identified as a predictive marker for postoperative prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. Citation Format: Hirotoshi Kikuchi, Tomohiro Murakami, Sanshiro Kawata, Amane Hirotsu, Tomohiro Matsumoto, Yusuke Ozaki, Yoshihiro Hiramatsu, Kinji Kamiya, Yoshifumi Morita, Takanori Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Konno, Hiroya Takeuchi. Tenascin C in gastric cancer stroma is a predictive marker for postoperative prognosis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4028.