Expression of protocadherin 10 in gastric cancer tissues and clinical significance

Objective To investigate the expression level of protocadherin 10 (PCDH10) protein in gastric cancer tissues and its clinicopathologic significance. Methods The expression level of PCDH10 protein in 202 gastric cancer tissues and corresponding normal tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. The association of PCDH10 expression level with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of gastric cancer patients was analyzed. Results The expression of PCDH10 protein in gastric cancer tissues was significantly down-regulated in 128 of 202 (63.4%) gastric cancer tissues as compared with their paired normal tissues (P=0.000). The low expression of PCDH10 protein in gastric cancer tissues was significantly correlated with H. pylori infection (P=0.000), tumor size (P=0.000), lymphatic invasion (P=0.001), invasive depth (P=0.000), nodal metastasis (P=0.000), distant metastasis (P=0.001) and TNM stage (P=0.000), but not with gender (P=0.757), age at tumor diagnosis (P= 0.312), tumor location (P= 0.512), tumor growth pattern (P= 0.366), tumor differentiation (P= 0.091) and venous invasion (P= 0.056). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that there was significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the patients with low or normal/high expression of PCDH10 in gastric cancer tissues (P=0.000). However, the results of multivariate Cox analysis showed the low expression of PCDH10 was not an independent factors for gastric cancer patients. Conclusion The expression of PCDH10 in gastric cancer was down-regulated and correlated with tumorigenesis, progressssion and prognosis for gastric cancer. Key words: Gastric cancer; Protocadherin 10; Gene expression; Prognosis