Expression of Oct-4 in gastric carcinoma and its clinical significance / 上海第二医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression of Oct-4 as a stem cell marker in gastric carcinoma tissues and its clinical significance. Methods From June 1996 to March 2006, 63 paraffin samples of gastric carcinoma tissues were obtained, and the expression of Oct-4 was examined by immunohistochemical staining. Another 58 normal tissues adjacent to gastric carcinoma and 10 normal gastric mucosa tissues were served as controls. The clinieopathologieal data of 63 patients with gastric carcinoma were retrospectively analysed, and their relationship with the expression of Oct-4 was analysed. Fifty of these 63 patients were followed up for 8 years, Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank teat were employed to explore the correlation between Oct-4 expression and survival, and Cox Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the possibility of Oct-4 expression as an independent prognostic factor for gastric carcinoma. Results The positive expression rate of Oct-4 in gastric carcinoma tissues was 80.95% (51/63), significantly higher than that of normal tissues adjacent to gastric carcinoma (5.2%, 3/58) and normal gastric mucosa tissues (0) (P < 0.01). The expression of Oct-4 was positively correlated to the clinical stage of gastric carcinoma(P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the expression of Oct-4 among patients with different differentiation, age, and gender (P>0.05). Patients with higher expression of Oct-4 had significantly shorter survival time (P<0.05). The expression of Oct-4 was not significantly correlated with the prognosis of gastric carcinoma(RR, 0.554; 95% CI, 0.209-1.466). Conclusion The expression of Oct-4 is correlated with the clinical stage and survival time of patients with gastric carcinoma, however, it is not an independent prognostic factor for gastric carcinoma.