Gastric Cancer
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2008; 14(24): 3812-3818
Published online Jun 28, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.3812
Heparanase expression, degradation of basement membrane and low degree of infiltration by immunocytes correlate with invasion and progression of human gastric cancer
Zun-Jiang Xie, Ying Liu, Li-Min Jia, Ye-Chun He
Zun-Jiang Xie, Ying Liu, Li-Min Jia, Ye-Chun He, Department of Anatomy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Xie ZJ and Liu Y contributed equally to this work; Xie ZJ and He YC designed research; Xie ZJ, Liu Y and Jia LM performed research; Xie ZJ and Liu Y analyzed the data; Xie ZJ wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Zun-Jiang Xie, Department of Anatomy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China. xiezj555@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-451-86690176
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Received: December 5, 2007
Revised: February 16, 2008
Accepted: February 23, 2008
Published online: June 28, 2008
Abstract

AIM: To disclose the mechanisms that accelerate or limit tumor invasion and metastasis in gastric cancer patients.

METHODS: The heparanase expression, continuity of basement, degree of infiltration by dendritic cells and lymphocytes in gastric cancer tissues from 33 the early and late stage patients were examined by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and transmission electron microscopy.

RESULTS: Heparanase mRNA expression in the late stage patients with gastric cancer was stronger than that in the early stage gastric cancer patients. In the early stage gastric cancer tissues, basement membrane (BM) appeared intact, whereas in the late stage, discontinuous BM was often present. The density of S100 protein positive tumor infiltrating dendritic cells (TIDC) in the early stage gastric cancer tissues was higher than that in the late stage. The infiltrating degree of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in the early stage patients whose tumor tissues contained a high density of TIDC was significantly higher than that in the late stage gastric cancer tissues patients with a low density of TIDC. There were few cancer cells penetrated through the continuous BM of cancer nests in the early stage gastric cancers, but many cancer cells were found outside of the defective BM of cancer nests in the late stage.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that strong heparanase expression is related with the degradation of BM which allows or accelerates tumor invasion and metastasis. However, high density of TIDC and degree of infiltration by TIL are associated with tumor progression in human gastric cancers.

Keywords: Heparanase; Basement membrane; Tumor infiltrating dendritic cell; Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte; Gastric cancer