The expression and prognostic significance of Fibulin-5 in gastric carcinoma

Objective To study the expression of Fibulin-5 in gastric cancer and its correlation with the prognosis of gastric cancer. Methods Tissue chips from 90 gastric cancer cases were used to study the expression of Fibulin-5 protein in cancer tissue and para-carcinoma tissue by immunohistochemistry, and analyze the correlation of Fibulin-5 expression and clinical pathological characteristics. Results The expression of Fibulin-5 in gastric cancer tissue was higher than that of para-carcinoma tissue [cytoplasm: (6.2±4.2) vs. (5.1±3.7); nucleus: (7.2±3.8) vs. (4.9±2.5), all P<0.05], which was positively related with patient′s age (r=0.213, P=0.044) in the cytoplasm of cancerous tissue. The expression of Fibulin-5 in the cytoplasm of cancerous tissue was negatively related with patient′s overall survival (25% vs. 56%, P=0.027), which was an independent predictor (P=0.037). Conclusion Fibulin-5 is an independent prognostic factor of gastric cancer, its expression might be related with shortend patient′s survival time. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Prognosis; Pathology, clinical; Fibulin-5