Gastric Cancer
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2008; 14(30): 4739-4744
Published online Aug 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.4739
Nuclear factor kappa B: A marker of chemotherapy for human stage IV gastric carcinoma
Sheng Ye, You-Ming Long, Jian Rong, Wen-Rui Xie
Sheng Ye, Oncology Department, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
You-Ming Long, Clinical College, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Jian Rong, Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Wen-Rui Xie, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Ye S and Long YM contributed equally to this work and designed the research; Long YM, Ye S, Rong J and Xie WR performed the research; Long YM and Ye S wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Sheng Ye, Associate professor, Oncology Department, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China. ys43226@medmail.com.cn
Telephone: +86-20-62732378 Fax: +86-20-62732378
Received: February 8, 2008
Revised: April 16, 2008
Accepted: April 23, 2008
Published online: August 14, 2008
Abstract

AIM: To detect the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) condition in human stage IV gastric carcinoma patients and to explore the correlation between NF-κB activation and survival of these patients after chemotherapy.

METHODS: Expression of NF-κB-p65 was determined by immunohistochemical analysis. Activity of NF-κB DNA-binding in carcinoma tissue was detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to show the relation between NF-κB and progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS) of the patients.

RESULTS: The positive expression rate of NF-κB-p65 in 60 gastric cancer tissue samples was 76.7% (46/60). The expression of NF-κB-p65 was reduced in adjacent carcinoma and normal tissue samples. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis showed a strong activation of NF-κB in cancer tissue samples. A survival difference was found in NF-κB-p65 positive and negative patients. NF-κB-p65 expression was negative in cancer tissue samples (n = 14). PFS was 191.40 ± 59.88 d and 152.93 ± 16.99 d, respectively, in patients with positive NF-κB-p65 expression (n = 46) (P = 0.4028). The survival time of patients with negative and positive NF-κB-p65 expression was 425.16 ± 61.61 d and 418.85 ± 42.98 d, respectively (P = 0.7303). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed no significant difference in PFS or OS. The 46 patient tissue which positive NF-κB-p65 expression was found in the tissue samples from the 46 patients whose PFS and OS were 564.89 ± 75.94 d and s 352.37 ± 41.32 d, respectively (P = 0.0165).

CONCLUSION: NF-κB is activated in gastric carcinoma tissue, which is related to the OS after chemotherapy.

Keywords: Gastric carcinoma; Nuclear factor kappa B; Activation; Survival analysis; Therapy