Abstract
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) involving down-regulation of E-cadherin is known to play an important role in tumour progression. The aim of our study was to investigate the mRNA expression of two EMT regulators - Slug and E12/E47 - in primary human gastric carcinomas and to compare this with the expression of E-cadherin and other EMT regulators (Snail, Twist, and SIP1). We studied a series of 59 gastric carcinomas by real-time quantitative RT-PCR in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues. Thirty-four cases (58%) showed Slug up-regulation in the tumour; reduced or negative expression of E-cadherin was present in 24 of these (71%, p < 0.0001). Twenty-one cases (36%) showed E12/E47 up-regulation that was not significantly associated with E-cadherin down-regulation (p = 0.5734). Slug up-regulation accompanied by E-cadherin down-regulation correlated with the presence of distant metastases (p = 0.0029) and with advanced pTNM stages (p = 0.0424). A statistically significant association was found between Slug up-regulation and the expression of SIP1 in intestinal (p = 0.0014) and Snail in diffuse (p = 0.0067) carcinomas. We present the first study integrating the analysis of several EMT regulators in primary gastric carcinomas and, conclude that Slug up-regulation is associated with E-cadherin down-regulation in diffuse and intestinal-type gastric carcinoma, and that this effect could be complemented by the presence of other EMT regulators.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 507-515 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Pathology |
Volume | 211 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2007 |
Keywords
- E-cadherin
- Epithelial-mesenchymal transition
- Gastric carcinoma
- Slug
- Snail