Elevated plasma osteopontin associated with gastric cancer development, invasion and survival

Objective: Osteopontin (OPN) has been found to be valuable in diagnosis and predicting the prognosis of a variety of malignancies. The aims of the present study are to evaluate the usefulness of plasma OPN level for predicting gastric cancer development, invasion and survival. Patients and Methods: One hundred and thirty two gastric cancer patients and 93 healthy controls were enrolled. Real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect OPN expression in gastric cancer tissues. Plasma levels of OPN were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Plasma OPN levels were compared with gastric cancer development, clinicopathological features and outcomes. Results: Expression of OPN mRNA was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues compared with non-tumour tissues. Most OPN immunoactivity was localised to cancer cells. The median plasma OPN level was significantly higher in patients than in controls (p Conclusions: Elevated plasma OPN level is significantly associated with gastric cancer development, invasive phenotypes and survival. Plasma OPN level may have potential usefulness as a diagnostic and prognostic factor for gastric cancer.