ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expressions of tyrosine kinase receptor (Trk)B and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein in human gastric careinoma and compare them with those in epithelial cells of normal mucous, in order to evaluate their clinicopathological significance. Method The expressions of TrkB and BDNF protein in tumor tissues, matched with para-tumor mueosal tissues from 64 cases with gastric carcinoma and normal mucous of 20 cases were observed immunohistochemically and related to some of the clinicopathological parameters. Results The positive rates of TrkB and BDNF protein in tumor tissues were 60.9% and 59.4% respectively, but there was negative in matched para-tumor mueosal tissues and normal mucosal tissues. TrkB and BDNF protein expressions were related to invasive depth,lymph node metastasis and TNM stage of cancer, but not to sex, age and degrees of cancerous differentiation.The positive rates of TrkB and BDNF protein in cases with serosal infiltration, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage Ⅲ - Ⅳ were significantly higher than those in cases without serosal infiltration, lymph node metas-tasis, and TNM stage Ⅰ - Ⅱ (P< 0.01 ). In group with metastasis the positive rates of TrkB and BDNF protein were lower in metastatic foci (76.5%, 26/34, 70.6%, 24134) than those in primary tumor (85.3%, 29134,82.4%, 28/34 ), but statistically there was no significant difference between them (P > 0.05 ). Conclusions The expressions of TrkB and BDNF protein are closely relatedto tumorigenesis and progression of gastric carcinoma. The increased expression of TrkB and BDNF may promote the occurrance of local invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma.