Caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 and tumour regression in gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinomas treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Table 1 Patient demographics n (%)

	Neoadjuvant chemotherapy group	Primary surgery group
Total number of patients	97	122
Median age (yr)	64	74.5
Sex
Male	74 (76)	92 (75.4)
Female	23 (24)	30 (24.6)
T stage
T1	6 (6.1)	12 (9.8)
T2	29 (29.8)	41 (33.6)
T3	50 (51.5)	65 (53.2)
T4	8 (8.2)	4 (3.2)
TX	1 (1)
N stage
N0	31 (31.9)	32 (26.2)
≥ N1	66 (68.1)	90 (73.8)
M stage
M0	97 (100)	122 (100)
M1	-	-
Tumour type
Adenocarcinoma	83 (85.5)	122 (100)
Squamous cell carcinoma	12 (12.3)	-
Adenosquamous	2 (2)	-
Site of tumour
Gastric	20 (20.6)	122 (100)
GOJ	47 (48.4)	-
Lower third of oesophagus	36 (37.1)	-
Surgery
Total gastrectomy	22	70
Partial gastrectomy	5	39
Oesophagectomy/ Oesophago-gastrectomy	70	13
Survival status
Alive	47 (48.4)	47 (38)
Dead	50 (51.6)	75 (62)

GOJ: Gastro-oesophageal junction.

Table 2 Caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 and tumour regression in tumours exposed to neoadjuvant chemotherapy n (%)

Caspase-cleaved CK-18	TRG1, TRG2, TRG3	TRG4, TRG5	Total
Negative	10 (23.8)	32 (76.2)	42 (100)
Positive	24 (43.6)	31 (56.4)	55 (100)
Total	34 (35.1)	63 (64.9)	97 (100)

CK-18: Cytokeratin-18; TRG: Tumour regression grade.

Table 3 Univariate and multivariate analyses showing predictive factors for disease-specific and overall survival in neoadjuvant and surgery only groups

	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	DSS	OS	OS
Neoadjuvant group
Caspase-cleaved CK-18 positivity	0.975	0.865	1.32
TRG 1-3 vs 4-5	0.038	0.136	0.109
Tumour diff. (well/mod vs poor)	0.087	0.101	0.32
T stage (T1, 2 and 3, 4)	0.07	0.09	0.101
N stage (N0 and > N1)	0.106	0.124	0.23
M stage (M0 and > M0)	0.23	0.14	1.72
Vascular invasion	0.87	0.76	0.86
Perineural invasion	1.32	1.455	1.76
Resection margin involvement	2.34	1.98	0.24
Surgery only group
Caspase-cleaved CK-18 positivity	0.003	0.668	0.10
TRG 1-3 vs 4-5	0.87	0.003	0.23
Tumour diff. (well/mod vs poor)	0.39	0.34	0.21
T stage (T1, 2 and 3, 4)	0.04	0.08	0.19
N stage (N0 and > N1)	0.16	0.10	0.43
M stage (M0 and > M0)	1.27	1.64	1.99
Vascular invasion	1.98	1.67	1.34
Perineural invasion	1.56	1.99	2.43
Resection margin involvement	0.34	0.25	0.34

DSS: Disease-specific survival; OS: Overall survival; CK-18: Cytokeratin-18; TRG: Tumour regression grade; diff.: Differentiation.